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
Irvine 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!”
Dan Lauria, actor, writer and director