Landmark Children’s Climate Lawsuit Hits New Roadblock

A high-profile lawsuit aiming to hold the federal government accountable for not curbing climate change has encountered yet another roadblock.  After the Supreme Court permitted the case to proceed last week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals delayed the case again on Thursday.

The case, Juliana v. United States, has its roots in a lawsuit filed against the Obama administration in August 2015 by 21 plaintiffs—all between the ages of 11 and 21.  The teenage activists claimed that the federal government had violated their constitutional rights by not curbing climate change and asked the court to “develop a national plan to restore Earth’s energy balance, and implement that national plan so as to stabilize the climate system.”

The trial had been scheduled to begin in federal district court in Eugene, Oregon, on October 29, but several interventions by higher courts kept the case in limbo.

“What these young plaintiffs are being put through just to have their day in court is disgraceful,” Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, said in a statement to Mother Jones.  “This trial would finally hold the Trump administration accountable for its climate denial and destructive agenda.  The court shouldn’t let the Trump administration use absurd legal claims to weasel out of it.”

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