Upcoming Presentations

Citizen Justice: The Environmental Legacy of William O. Douglas

October 28, 2020

A Joint Program of the Northern District Historical Society and the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society

William O. Douglas was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939–75, making him the longest serving Justice on the Court. In a manner unthinkable today, Justice Douglas was a public advocate for the environment. In the case Sierra Club v. Morton, which originated in the Northern District of California, Justice Douglas famously argued in his dissent that natural resources such as trees, lakes, and wildlife should have standing to sue for their own protection.

Join us as Ninth Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown explores the politics and ethics of advocacy by a Supreme Court Justice. Judge McKeown’s book on Justice Douglas’s environmental legacy will be published in 2021.

To attend this virtual event, please register at the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society’s website.

Program Partner

The Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society’s mission is to preserve and promote the vibrant history of the law in the Ninth Circuit, and to raise awareness of the important role that the judicial system plays in our society. Please visit the NJCHS website to learn more.

Tokyo Rose

November 2020

On October 6, 1949, Iva Toguri d’Aquino, also known as “Tokyo Rose,” was sentenced in the San Francisco federal courthouse to ten years’ imprisonment and fined $10,000 for the crime of treason. During WWII as a U.S. citizen living in Japan, she broadcast Japanese propaganda to American servicemen in the Pacific. The case was not clear cut; the government at first declined to prosecute, then did so after a public outcry.