The Footpaths of Justice William O. Douglas

Justice William O. Douglas, raised in Yakima, Washington, in the early 1900’s, was a well-known jurist who served on the United States Supreme Court for 36 years. Douglas was a prolific writer and adventurer. In addition to his judicial opinions he wrote 32 books, and 200 articles in magazines, law reviews, and outdoor journals. William O. Douglas possessed an extraordinary curiosity and was an inveterate hiker and walker. He became a proficient naturalist, conservationist, storyteller, and world citizen. His written legacy includes a robust literature on the Constitution, civil liberties, privacy, and the environment; he pursued an activism that challenged officials in the other branches of government and the public to speak truth to power. On many occasions in his life Douglas organized hikes to preserve areas from development or ruin. Douglas’s legacy summons us “back” outdoors to experience special places, rediscover our rootedness, and preserve the natural assets that lie in the nation’s backyard. The book, "The footpaths of Justice William O. Douglas" responds to Douglas's summons to share a sense of wonder, discovery, and freedom of mind that is affirmed by a sovereign people in a bountiful land. The narrative retraces Douglas’s footpaths along the C & O Canal, the soggy parasols of the Olympics, the savage landscapes of Mount St. Helens, the jagged crags of the North Cascades, and the tumultuous white water of the Salmon River. These stories do not detail heroic conquests or great adventures but delight in the democratization of place.