ABSTRACT
The conservative judiciary's reaction to the nation's diminished military reliability has to also be analyzed in response to William O. Douglas and other outspoken judicial liberals. The Constitution uses the language civil office, and does not expressly state military duties, or similar terms. Parker v. Levy was singularly the most contentious military law decision arising from a court-martial to come before the Burger Court and it rivaled Laird v. Douglas predictably dissented, and unsurprisingly much of his published dissent contained language critical of the military's justice system. The legal academy and American Bar Association largely defended Douglas. The government argued that the prohibition against political activity was rooted in the need for an apolitical military which is subordinate to the civil government, both in fact and in appearance. Brennan's hopes for a reversal of Spock and Albertini have never materialized, in part, because the curtailment of political activity is essential to military governance.
