Askume, Sep 12 – Twenty-one young people on Thursday asked the US Supreme Court to reopen a new lawsuit claiming that US government energy policies violate their right to be safe from the effects of climate change.
The youth activists argued in a so-called mandamus petition that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overstepped its authority in May when it took the “extraordinary” step of ordering an Oregon federal judge to dismiss the case.
The Ninth Circuit did so at the urging of the US Justice Department, after an Oregon judge allowed lawyers for the young men to amend their 2015 complaint to address issues raised by an appeals court in early 2020 on the case.
The teens’ attorneys, at the nonprofit Our Children’s Trust, argued that the Ninth Circuit “plainly and unquestionably exceeded the legitimate exercise of its declared jurisdiction” by intervening in the case at the preliminary hearing and ordering the dismissal.
The youth activists have also filed a petition seeking an extension of the deadline to file petitions for certiorari to Dec. 9, saying this would spark a wider debate on why the case should be reheard and why it is standing.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
The suit is one of many climate change cases filed across the country by young activists. The cases broadly accuse state and federal governments of violating their rights and exacerbating climate change through policies that encourage or allow the extraction and burning of fossil fuels.
While some of those cases have failed , a Montana judge last year held that the state had violated the rights of young people by preventing regulators from considering how new fossil fuel plans affect climate change.
In June, Hawaii agreed to the nation’s first deal with young people, taking action to decarbonize its transportation system by 2045 .
The federal lawsuit alleges that the US government permitted, authorized, and subsidized the extraction and consumption of fossil fuels, knowing that these actions would lead to catastrophic global warming.
The plaintiffs claim that US energy policies exacerbate climate change and violate their rights to due process and equal protection under the US Constitution.
But in a 2020 ruling, the Ninth Circuit held that courts do not have the authority to order and monitor measures aimed at combating climate change, and that such complex policy decisions are best left to Congress and the executive branch.
The court sent the case back to the Oregon judge with instructions to dismiss the suit. But US District Judge Ann Aiken allowed the plaintiffs to amend their complaint to keep the suit alive, citing a change in the law.
But three judges of the 9th Circuit said in May that the 2020 ruling left no room for amending the complaint.
In re: Kelsey Cascadia Rose Juliana, et al., Supreme Court of the United States, number unknown.
Plaintiff: Julia Olson of Our Children’s Trust
Read more:
Utah Supreme Court skeptical about reopening youth-led climate change case
Hawaii agrees to ‘unprecedented’ settlement of youth climate change case
Montana urges state Supreme Court to overturn landmark climate ruling
Children’s climate lawsuit should be dismissed, US appeals court says
