The May 23-25 Washington Post stories based on the papers of Thurgood Marshall, which have been available to researchers without restriction since Jan. 24, stirred a brief but vigorous controversy in Washington.
Although the Library was acting on the express wishes of the late Supreme Court justice that his papers be opened to all researchers upon his death, the Post stories fueled a debate over whether the Library had acted responsibly in allowing access to the papers so soon after Marshall's death.
Critics ranged from Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist to columnist Carl Rowan. Those who applauded Dr. Billington's refusal to limit access to the papers ranged from The New York Times to Library Journal.
Justice Rehnquist, in a May 25 letter to Dr. Billington, chastized the Library for exercising "bad judgment." Justice Rehnquist said he was speaking for a "majority of the active justices."
The May 28 New York Times said, "The Supreme Court papers of the late Justice Thurgood Marshall have landed in the public domain, where they belong. ... Dr. Billington clearly acted in the best interests of the public."
Carl Rowan, whose Dream Makers, Dream Breakers: The World of Justice Thurgood Marshall" was written without benefit of access to the papers, accuses LC in his May 26 column of "betraying" Marshall's wishes.
But Juan Williams, who is writing a book about Justice Marshall, said in the May 30 Washington Post that "Marshall knew what he was doing when he gave the Library of Congress permission to open his papers after his death. Marshall was totally in charge of his wits."
Library Journal's John Berry said on June 15 that releasing the papers "was the right thing -- the only thing -- a librarian could do."
And The Washington Post, in its May 28 editorial, said Dr. Billington should not "have to explain why he didn't decide on his own to bury them in some basement for a decade. His job is to facilitate public access to information, not to block it."