PRESS

“To A High Court is a fascinating and incisive account of a major Supreme Court decision. Scholars, students, and those interested in law all would benefit from reading this outstanding book.”

Erwin Chemerinsky

Dean | University of California | Berkeley School of Law

“[To a High Court] captures the hopes, fears, slips and slides of big-time environmental litigation. I wish every student of the law could share [such] moments: adversaries spanning the spectrum of trade association lawyers, oblivious agencies, and applause-seeking environmentalists. The professor and students survive the rapids and escape the shoals and claim a sweet environmental win. It may be harder to do it today. But unwarranted optimism has always been behind the better moments of environmental law, and that can never be amended into oblivion or ruled out of order.”

William H. Rodgers, Jr.

Stimson Bullitt Professor of Environmental Law | University of Washington School of Law

“As To A High Court shows, Neil Proto obtained his law degree before professors started drumming the narrow “injury-causation-redressability” view of standing-to-sue into the heads of generations of law students. He and the other members of SCRAP were free to imagine and then fight for a broad view of standing. They also convinced the Court’s most traditional “strict-constructionist” – Justice Potter Stewart – that they were right. To A High Court describes, with captivating eloquence and logic, how the imagination and persistence of students can sometimes achieve more than professionals who are restricted by doctrine and imprisoned by caution.”

John Bonine

Professor of Law University of Oregon School of Law

“[High Court is an] intriguing book. I do hope that it will have a sale among all students of constitutional law. I am certain that it will be referred to by the professors and hopefully the students will benefit from [Neil Proto’s] history and wisdom.”

Robert Drinan, S.J.

Professor of Law | Georgetown University School of Law

“This high drama of five law students confronting the Railroads’ power and the government’s failure is riveting. The story resonates with questions still central to citizens and legislators: what is the duty of government? And who advocates the public’s interest? “Standing to sue” is critical. When protecting individual rights or requiring corporate responsibility, we must ensure there is judicial review and a citizen’s right to seek it. High Court may be a 30 year old story. But its lesson for holding government accountable could not be more current.”

Rosa DeLauro

Member of Congress (Connecticut)

“There is a special lesson in this story. In 1970 Congress passed NEPA and later the Clean Air Act. NEPA forced federal agencies to evaluate and make public the environmental impacts of their actions. The Clean Air Act gave citizens “standing” to sue government and polluters. NEPA contained no such specific provision. The SCRAP students made NEPA a real law with real consequences. Proto’s readable and entertaining narrative on how a vital tool for environmental protection was born, midwifed by a bunch of law students, is a must read for tomorrow’s environmental litigators and advocates.”

Leon G. Billings, President

The Edmund S. Muskie Foundation

“Students fighting Goliaths. A timeless theme, engaging characters and plot twists. A Civil Action merged with Paper Chase. I can’t wait to see the movie!”