The story is about a bunch of largely, but not exclusively, middle-aged hippies who want to have their annual camp-out meeting at a National Park in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina. State and federal officials believe the hippies are in violation of the applicable law controlling the size of campsites. The hippies, on the other hand, believe the controlling law violates their rights of free speech.

     The many legal questions that come to mind quickly land on the desk of Judge David Sentelle, a federal District Court judge just recently nominated by President Reagan to the D.C. Circuit. What law applies, federal or state; does a federal judge have jurisdiction; is the North Carolina law, which strictly construed may not permit the gathering, subject to being ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge; and even if it is, is David Sentelle such a judge, considering that he grew up in the area, is a conservative Republican and is, at the time the crisis erupts, hoping to get confirmed by the Democratic Senate to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. And why cannot Judge Dave, as the hippies came to call him, duck this whole thing anyway and ship it down to the local courts?

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     The book is a masterpiece of storytelling about how Judge Dave accomplished his goal without compromising either his principles or the rule of law. But you won’t get the point if you don’t have a sense of humor. At the same time, it is impossible to read the book and not laugh, thus learning a sense of humor if you did not have one starting out.

Judge Dave and the Rainbow People was first published as a four-part series in Volume III of the Green Bag. In addition to compiling those articles, the book also contains additional material - including a response from a representative of the Rainbows - not originally published in The Green Bag. The book is available for $10 including domestic shipping directly from The Green Bag Press. You may pay either by check mailed to the Green Bag Press, 6600 Barnaby Street N.W., Washington, D.C., 20015, or by credit card through PayPal by using the link below: