US Supreme Court ends youth-led climate case
The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected a bid by 21 young people to revive a novel lawsuit claiming the US government’s energy policies violate their rights to be protected from climate change.
The justices denied a request by the youth activists to hear their appeal of a decision by the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals directing a federal judge in Oregon to dismiss the case after holding they lacked legal standing to sue.
The decision marks the end of Juliana vs United States, one of the longest-running climate change cases that youth activists have filed nationwide.
Julia Olson, chief legal counsel for Our Children’s Trust, the nonprofit law firm that represented the plaintiffs, said the impact of the lawsuit “cannot be measured by the finality of this case alone.”
The landmark case was filed in 2015 by 21 plaintiffs, the youngest 8 years old. They claimed the US government’s actions encouraging a fossil fuel economy violated their right to a life-sustaining climate.
Challenged
The case—called Juliana vs United States after one of the activists, Kelsey Juliana—was challenged repeatedly by the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations, whose lawyers argued it sought to direct federal environmental and energy policies through the courts instead of the political process.
The plaintiffs now range from 17 to 29 years old and have continued their climate advocacy to various degrees, Olson said, adding that some are still in university. About half are from hometowns in Oregon, according to Our Children’s Trust’s website.
“The Supreme Court’s decision today is not the end of the road,” said Olson in a statement.
The US Department of Justice, which had fought the case across three presidential administrations, welcomed the court’s decision, which acting asst. attorney general Adam Gustafson in a statement said “brings this long saga to a conclusion.”
Victories
Our Children’s Trust and its youth clients have filed a series of lawsuits accusing state and federal governments of exacerbating climate change by adopting policies that encourage or allow the extraction and burning of fossil fuels in violation of their rights.
While some cases have faltered, the Montana Supreme Court in December held that the state’s constitution guarantees a right to a stable climate system. Hawaii in June agreed to a first-in-the-nation settlement with young people to take action to decarbonize its transportation system by 2045.
In Monday’s case, which was filed in 2015, the youth plaintiffs had alleged the US government has permitted, authorized and subsidized fossil fuel extraction and consumption despite knowing those actions cause catastrophic global warming.
Right to due process
By contributing to climate change, the plaintiffs said US energy policies violate their rights to due process and equal protection under the US Constitution.
But in a 2020 ruling, the 9th Circuit held it was beyond the power of the courts to order and supervise remedies designed to address climate change and that such complex policy decisions were better left to Congress and the executive branch.
The court sent the case back to the Oregon judge with instructions to dismiss the lawsuit. But US District Judge Ann Aiken instead allowed the plaintiffs to try to amend their complaint to keep it going, citing a change in the law.
A three-judge 9th Circuit panel in May 2024 said the 2020 ruling left no room to amend the complaint and directed Aiken to dismiss the case.
