Town Hall Seattle Civics Series

Long before “going green” became a hashtag, people like William O. Douglas were on the front lines of the environmental justice movement. Despite being known for some notable accomplishments — for example, the fact that he was the longest serving U.S. Supreme Court justice, having sat from 1939-1975 — Douglas largely remained an unsung environmental advocate. Author and U.S. Court of Appeals Judge M. Margaret McKeown’s new book, Citizen Justice: The Environmental Legacy of William O. Douglas explores Douglas’s impact not only during his near forty-year SCOTUS tenure, but the ripple effects that helped shape environmental policy and practice today. Douglas, nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, embraced both a personal and political connection to nature, which fueled his drive to save trees and protect the land. Despite these achievements, he was not without controversy: impeachments, oppositions, and a series of failed marriages marred his public image. Though a complex figur