ULC Board Member Sue Casey on Her Newest Book, Appealing for Justice
On Tuesday, October 18th, the back room of downtown Denver’s Tattered Cover bookstore was filled to capacity. It was no surprise to be part of a standing room only crowd who has been anticipating the release of Susan Casey’s newest book, Appealing for Justice, marking the end of a three-year journey that tells the story of Jean Dubofsky and her (challenging, albeit extremely successful) political career in Colorado.
While Sue Casey is the now the accomplished author of two books, she is also a Board Member here at the Urban Land Conservancy. Casey has served on our Board of Directors for over six years, and consistently provides a unique view and asks the tough questions that lead to a well thought out approach to business presented to the Board. Her well respected voice of reason is critical to ULC’s ability to succeed in our mission of investing in real estate for the long-term benefit of Metro Denver communities.
Moving to Colorado 30 years ago, Casey has spent the majority of her career in teaching, social work and politics. She has worked on presidential campaigns, and served on the Denver City Council from 1995 to 2001. It is no surprise that such an influential and well-respected woman chose an equally influential and well-respected woman for the subject of her second book. Casey explained that it all started with a hunger to learn more about the time period encasing the civil rights, gay rights and women’s rights movements.
“This was a story I have wanted to do for a long time,” Casey said. “The train of justice that our country has gone through, from civil rights to women’s rights to gay rights, having seen and been a part of that made me very interested to better understand how it relates to where we are today.”
Casey knew that Jean Dubofsky was an excellent vessel to help tell the story of decades past. And although they swam in similar circles, Casey admitted they had only spoken a handful of times over the past 20 years. She realized that reaching out and asking someone if they would be willing to be the subject of a book might not go over well, but it was worth a shot.
“So I realized that I had two challenges,” Casey said. “Is there actually a story there? And will she say yes?
In the prelude to Casey’s book signing event, Dubofsky explained what the process was like for her to be the subject of someone’s book, to have decades of her life and career told over the course of 250 pages. She joked about her known reputation of being quite reserved, and admitted that she would have preferred to be under a nearby table than speaking in front of a few hundred people.
Nevertheless, she said the story was easy to tell. Casey and Dubofsky would meet for hikes in Boulder, and simply walk and talk. Casey kept a recorder in her back pocket, and after five or so hikes had a majority of the information needed to commence writing. This, plus a garage chock full of Dubofsky’s old files eventually led to the completion of Appealing for Justice.
While the book’s focus spans four decades of civil, gay and women’s rights, it culminates in the landmark gay rights case of Romer v. Evans. Casey explained that during the origins of her ideas for the book, she wanted to tell the story of an unsung hero. Everyone knows what famous politicians and leaders were doing during the 1960’s and 70’s. John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Gloria Steinem are easily recognized as their names cover history books. But Casey believed that many stories slipped through the cracks, and she did not want Dubofsky’s to be one of them.
Jean Dubofsky contributes much of her political success to luck. Graduating from Harvard Law with only a handful of women in her class, Dubofsky felt as though her efforts were easily noticed due to her gender. But others (like Casey) would beg to differ.
At age 33, Dubofky was appointed Deputy Attorney General for Colorado. Four years later and she became the first women and youngest person to become a justice of Colorado’s Supreme Court. Upon her nomination, both her friends and members of the nominating committee were subpoenaed due to who Dubofsky was.
“She was raked over the coals,” Casey explained. “Her reputation was questioned and she was held for her multiple sins of being 37 years old, a woman and a radical feminist.”
And yet against all odds, Dubofsky’s story is one of success and overcoming obstacles. In the mid 1990’s, she served as the lead attorney in Romer V. Evans, which overturned Colorado’s Amendment 2. And after almost 40 years in the political arena, she was inducted into Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 2008.
Dubofsky’s story has now been told, and we all have Susan Casey to thank for highlighting such an important person in Colorado’s history. To learn more about the civil, gay and women’s rights movements, Romer V. Evans and Jean Dubofsky, read Sue Casey’s Appealing For Justice, in stores now!