Please join CLA ELS and the Sacramento County Bar Association Environmental Law Section as we welcome professor and author Daniel Selmi to discuss his 2022 book Dawn at Mineral King Valley: The Sierra Club, the Disney Company, and the Rise of Environmental Law. Dawn at Mineral King Valley tells the story behind the landmark case Sierra Club v. Morton (1972) 405 U.S. 727.  

Dawn at Mineral King Valley is available wherever books are sold. For fastest service, consider purchasing directly from the publisher, University of Chicago, or through Volumes Books a Chicago bookstore. You can learn more about Volumes Books here.

Sierra Club, one of the earliest petitioner suits under NEPA, set the enduring test for establishing standing in environmental litigation. The case is also well-known for Justice William O. Douglas’ powerful and poignant dissent.  Known as “the environmental justice,” when not on the bench “Wild Bill” Douglas was a prolific nature and travel writer. His dissent made history when he postulated that perhaps nature itself might be worthy of standing, enshrining the concept of the “rights of nature” into U.S. legal jurisprudence. We invite you to learn more about the twists and turns that brought Sierra Club to the forefront of environmental law and informed the national consciousness around wilderness preservation, land use development and environmental review. 

Daniel Selmi is a Professor of Law (ret.) at Loyola Marymount University, Loyola Law School, where he specialized in environmental law and appellate advocacy. Among other public service and volunteer positions, Professor Selmi is a former chair of the CLA ELS (when it was part of the State Bar.) Lawyers and law students may also recognize Professor Selmi from his canonical casebooks and treatises, including the six-volume set California Environmental Law and Land Use Practice. You can learn more about Professor Selmi at https://www.lls.edu/faculty/distinguishedretiredfaculty/selmidanielp/

Dawn at Mineral King Valley is available wherever books are sold. For fastest service, consider purchasing directly from the publisher at https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo128940600.html