Remembering Supreme Court Justice Andy Douglas
As published in the Toledo Blade on October 3, 2021.
ANDY DOUGLAS: A PROUD SON OF TOLEDO WITH A STATEWIDE LEGACY
By Mark R. Weaver
Law books and legal opinions can be towering mountains of paper, but amid these endless words and conjured phrases of jurisprudence, every court case comes down to a passionate dispute between people. It’s easy to miss that. Retired Ohio Supreme Court Justice Andy Douglas, who died last week at age 89, never missed it. Even in complicated legal squabbles, the proverbial “little guy” caught his notice.
Though the son of a minister, Andy — to his very core — was a proud son of Toledo. In modern Ohio history, no other Toledoan has taken the statewide stage and affected our state more. Ohioans knew Andy as a fiery advocate for justice but people in Toledo saw him as a man deeply devoted to the success of the Glass City.
Over three decades, Andy was my client, friend, and legal mentor. He often turned to me to help him communicate the passions and poignancy he felt for the cause of justice and the people he served. I was honored to do so. His passing left me to ponder his legacy.
For many years, nearly every state government leader in Ohio knew or worked with Andy. Once I was litigating a high-profile case before the Ohio Elections Commission. I needed to prove the applied meaning of a certain legal phrase, so I recruited Andy — then just a year retired from the Ohio Supreme Court — to serve as my unpaid expert witness. He was waiting in the lobby for a dramatic entrance, and when I announced his name to step forward and testify, three of the seven commission members gasped. All three spoke up and wanted to put on the record for everyone to understand that they personally knew, and had such a respect for, Andy Douglas.
On an earlier occasion, I stopped in to see Andy in his chambers at the Supreme Court and I asked him a random question on an arcane point of law I didn’t quite understand. Stepping over to a wall wide with books, he reached up, grabbed one, and without so much as glancing at an index, flipped right to a judicial opinion — one of 900 he wrote in his career. With no preparation, he began to discuss it with me, and I realized the case was right on point. I was flabbergasted at his breadth of knowledge and memory for detail.
Andy was known for his steadfast support of labor unions, but few realized his connection to these organizations was more than political. As a young man, he was a member of a Toledo grocery clerks union and even decades later, he proudly displayed his old union card. But his ardent advocacy of unions was exceeded by his dedication to safeguarding police officers from unfair treatment in the workplace and danger on the streets. As a judge and as an attorney, he sought solutions that would protect the brave men and women of law enforcement, so they could protect all of us. He rightly saw their cause as noble and counted them among his closest friends.
Every judge takes an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and many judges enjoy opining on it. But Andy’s fealty to this founding document went further than that. He typically carried a small copy of the Constitution in his suit pocket and, when a constitutional discussion casually began, he’d pull it out and offer it to his conversation partner as a gift. When he got home, he’d pocket another, ready for the next such opportunity.
A complete understanding of Andy Douglas requires the acknowledgement that his passion often bubbled into ire and his sharp wit could cut deep. While this verve was often on display during the Supreme Court’s oral arguments, even those of us who called him friend saw it from time to time. He liked to chalk it up to the well-known temper of Scottish redheads like himself. His red hair, along with the red pen he brandished when editing written drafts of opinions from his loyal law clerks, were crimson trademarks of Andy’s approach to law and politics. Red can evince both love and anger and Andy could be both endearing and irascible. And, like red, he was bold in the best sense of the word.
On his greatest days — and there were many — Justice Douglas saw the law as a shield for the defenseless, a shelter for the vulnerable. This mindset likely stems from an austere childhood in North Toledo. In a quiet moment, he once related a story to me from his earliest memories.
During the Great Depression, a family living in Andy’s neighborhood was in mourning following the death of their newborn child. The neighbor asked Andy’s father if he would perform the funeral service. Even at that young age, Andy could sense the man felt ashamed to ask for help. After all, there was barely enough money to bury the infant, and none to pay a minister.
Andy’s father performed the service and the next day, the neighbors came to the Douglas back door carrying the only payment their family had — a small loaf of bread. They offered it in gratitude. Knowing this was likely that grieving family’s only food for the day, Rev. Douglas invited them into his small kitchen. Producing some lunch meat from the Douglas icebox, the two families — one Scottish, one African American, sat side by side at the table of companionship and dined on sandwiches — a meal more nourishing than any feast. No greater gospel lesson could come from pulpit or tabernacle: the struggle of a neighbor is a burden to be shared. Indeed.
Law and governance were Andy Douglas’ craft and calling and, throughout his career, he leveraged these implements to replicate that small kindness he witnessed in his family’s kitchen. Over his 42 years of public service, some cheered him, and others felt vexed. But every soul who knew him recognized his passion and intellect. Throughout Ohio, and particularly in his beloved Toledo, his legacy looms large. Let it be said: Andy Douglas, son of Toledo, made a big impact for the little guy.
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Mark R. Weaver is a Columbus attorney who was the political advisor to Andy Douglas for his two re-election campaigns to the Ohio Supreme Court. Mr. Weaver is author of the book “A Wordsmith’s Work.”
