ABSTRACT
William O. Douglas was born in Minnesota, raised in Yakima, Washington, served in the Army during World War I, and educated at Columbia University's law school. Marshall and Brennan would generally align with Douglas on most, but not all, appeals arising from military decisions. At some point after 1949, Douglas developed a relationship with Look Magazine and authored a series of articles for the monthly publication, analyzing military and political policies. Service members appealed to the federal courts in the hopes of a judicial determination that an undeclared war exempted them from being forced to deploy to Vietnam. Northern anti-slavery forces opposed the Mexican-American War, though the rapid successes of the United States forces may have dampened their hopes for a political surge against that conflict. The facts which gave rise to O'Callahan v. Parker were, in comparison to hundreds of courts-martial appeals, unremarkable.
