“All readers, and not just lawyers, will enjoy Carla Mattix’s engaging and informative exploration of five U.S. Supreme Court decisions that helped lay the foundation for all the public lands we enjoy today.”
—John Leshy, author of Our Common Ground: A History of America’s Public Lands
“While there are thousands of books covering every aspect of the national parks, none deal with the specific topic of the book—the key Supreme Court decisions that have shaped the National Park Service. This is a very significant contribution to the literature of the National Park Service, offering careful and complete research, with ample sources.”
—T. Destry Jarvis, former National Park Service Assistant Director for External Affairs, co-author of National Parks Forever: Fifty Years of Fighting and a Case for Independence
“Mattix is an expert on Supreme Court cases involving the National Park Service. Her writing is clear, well-organized, and draws extensively on legal records.”
—Ruth M. Alexander, professor of history emerita, Colorado State University, author of Democracy’s Mountain: Longs Peak and the Unfulfilled Promises of America’s National Parks
“While national parks are well loved among the public, few consider the role litigation has played, and continues to play, in the management of these special places. Attorney Carla Mattix has produced a fascinating study of Supreme Court decisions that have shaped National Park Service policies. National Parks and the Supreme Court delivers an accounting of five cases that reveal the foundational legal framework for federal preservation of historic places, and the increasing complexity of managing the over four hundred units now administered by the Service. This deeply researched analysis of the court’s response to disparate legal issues belongs in the library of every national park enthusiast.”
—Dwight T. Pitcaithley, chief historian, National Park Service 1995-2005; author of The U.S. Constitution and Secession: A Documentary Anthology of Slavery and White Supremacy
