During Associate Justice William O. Douglas’s long tenure on the Supreme Court bench, from 1939 to 1975, a variety of cases came before the Court that affected American public life and the concepts of individual and civil rights. The mid-twentieth century was a tumultuous and pivotal time in American history that was marked by major international conflicts, such as World War II, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War, as well as major domestic movements, notably the civil rights movement. Douglas’s opinions demonstrate his judicial priorities—protection of civil and individual rights, including the right to privacy; near-absolute deference to the First Amendment; and environmental protection. Douglas addressed cases not just from within the narrow confines of case-law precedent but also from what he saw as the social ramifications of the particular questions contested in the cases. The Supreme Court case Griswold v. Connecticut overturned the conviction of Estelle Griswold and C. Lee Buxton for violating an 1879 Connecticut law that prohibited the provision of contraceptive devices, medicines, or advice—even to married couples. The case definitively established a constitutional right to privacy among married couples.