William
O. Douglas was born on October 16, 1898, at Maine,
Minnesota. He served on the faculties of Yale and
Columbia Universities until mid 1930's when he
was appointed to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In 1937, William O. Douglas while Director of the
Securities and Exchange Commission, received a
threatening letter advising him he would lose his
life if the writer of the letter should lose his
margin on the stock market. The United States Attorney
advised the contents of the letter did not constitute
a violation of the Extortion Statute, and advised
that it be referred to the Post Office Department
as a possible violation of statutes covering use
of the mails. He also received another extortion
letter in 1973, sent to the United States Supreme
Court where he was a Justice of the Supreme Court.
The Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) said
it appears that the writer had some mental aberration
and he saw no reason for any further investigation.
In January 1969, Mr. Douglas received another extortion
letter and likewise, the AUSA didn't want to prosecute.
In April 1969, William O. Douglas, Earl Warren,
and Hugo Black, all Supreme Court Justices, received
the same extortion letter. In 1970, several Congressmen,
Senators, Justice Black and the Budget Director
all received extortion threats and again the AUSA
declined any prosecution. In March 1973, Justice
Douglas, was threatened by a telephone call made
to the Washington Post newspaper and once again
the AUSA did not want to prosecute. Dr. Jerome
Rehman, a Long Beach, California Osteopath, was
indicted on charges of manslaughter and conspiracy
to commit acts injurious to public health. The
manslaughter charge was dismissed, but he was convicted
on the conspiracy charge on August 31, 1963. He
was sentenced to serve one to five years in the
California State Prison. Rehman's appeal to the
California Supreme Court was denied, therefore,
he appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
He was freed on an appeal bond if he would voluntarily
surrender his license to practice medicine. He
stated that he was going to get his license reinstated,
because he had paid his attorney $ 7,500. His attorney
was going to pay Justice Black $ 5,000 of the money
to set aside the order to suspend his license.
Justice Black did indeed issue an order to set
aside the suspension of his license, and Rehman
was back practicing medicine. An investigation
of the matter did not prove the bribe ever happened.
Justice Douglas granted a last minute stay of execution
for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on June 17, 1953.
Douglas's order was reversed by the Supreme Court
on June 19, 1953. Justice Douglas was married four
times.
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