Robert M. Douglas
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Robert Martin Douglas (1849-1917) was a North Carolina Supreme Court justice and political figure. He was the son of Senator Stephen A. Douglas (Democrat of Illinois) and Martha Martin, originally of North Carolina. As a child, Robert spent a great deal of time in his mother's home state. [1]
Douglas became a prominent Republican after the American Civil War (indeed, he thought his father's Democratic party died in the war [2]). As a young man, he served as a secretary to President Ulysses S. Grant.[3]
He was elected to the North Carolina Supreme Court as a Republican in 1896. In 1901, Justice Douglas and Chief Justice David M. Furches (also a Republican) were impeached by the Democratic Party-controlled North Carolina House of Representatives "for issuing an allegedly unconstitutional mandamus ordering the State Treasurer to pay out money." Neither were removed from office by the necessary two-thirds vote of the North Carolina Senate, although a simple majority of senators favored removal. Douglas served out his eight-year term and then retired from the court. [4]
