Climate change activist group seeks SCOTUS help in reviving case against federal government
After a long and meandering path through the courts, a group of young climate change activists are now hoping to bring new life to litigation challenging the federal approach to the issue they believe is of existential importance.
As Reuters reports, the cadre of 21 climate crusaders is requesting that the U.S. Supreme Court take action to revive claims that government policies as they currently stand constitute violations of their rights to be safe from the effects of climate change, hoping that prior rulings in favor of the Biden administration are overturned.
Petition filed
The petitioners, represented by lawyers from the non-profit organization Our Children's Trust, have filed a petition for a writ of mandamus with the Supreme Court based on a decision from the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
In the activists' estimation, the appeals panel exceeded its authority by ordering a federal judge in Oregon to dismiss their claims, an edict that was made at the behest of the Biden Justice Department.
The claims at issue were first raised in a 2015 complaint, one of several cases the group has initiated in courts across the country.
Their complaints make broad and sweeping allegations against state and federal governmental authorities, accusing them of unlawfully adopting policies that facilitate the extraction and use of fossil fuels.
Such conduct, they assert, violates their rights to be protected against what they say are the catastrophic effects of climate change.
Revival of claims sought
The federal lawsuit at issue contends that the U.S. government has not just allowed, but also subsidized the extraction and consumption of fossil fuels, doing so with full knowledge of the allegedly devastating effects of global warming that those practices yield.
As such, they contend, energy policies pursued and furthered by the government constitute a violation of their due process and equal protection rights under the United States Constitution.
In 2020, the 9th Circuit determined that it was not within the courts' power to supervise policies and practices meant to address climate change and that such matters were best left to Congress and the executive, ordering the lower court judge to dismiss the complaint.
Instead, that judge offered the activists an opportunity to amend the lawsuit to boost its chances of survival, a move that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals subsequently shot down, leading to the new push for Supreme Court intervention.
Fate of federal case hangs in balance
The case at issue is captioned In re: Kelsey Cascadia Rose Juliana, referencing a lead plaintiff described by Our Children's Trust as someone who has “engaged in climate activism since age 10” and who initiated a lawsuit against the governor of Oregon at age 15 and took an active role in the filing of the federal lawsuit discussed above at age 19.
In her own words, Juliana has expressed, “I believe that climate change is the most pressing issue my generation will ever face, indeed that the world has ever faced. This is an environmental issue, and it is also a human rights issue.”
Whether the U.S. Supreme Court will see any merit in the arguments raised by the young activists in the case -- or will entertain them at all -- is something, however, that still remains to be seen.