EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Young climate activists in Oregon have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to revive their long-running lawsuit against the federal government, arguing they have a constitutional right to a life-sustaining climate.
Their petition, filed Thursday, asks the high court to reverse a dismissal of the lawsuit filed earlier this year by a federal appeals panel, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. The request is to overturn the ruling and send the case back to federal court in Oregon to proceed to trial.
The groundbreaking case was filed in 2015 by 21 plaintiffs, who were between the ages of 8 and 18 at the time.
The lawsuit was repeatedly challenged by the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations, whose lawyers argued that the lawsuit was designed to steer federal environmental and energy policy through the courts rather than the political process.
In May, at the request of the Biden administration, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals ordered U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken in Eugene, Oregon, to dismiss the case.
“Our petition to the Supreme Court is essential to correcting this overreach of the Ninth Circuit’s authority and upholding the rule of law,” Julia Olson, chief legal counsel at Our Children’s Trust, the nonprofit law firm representing the activists, said in a statement. “Upholding these principles of due process is essential to maintaining confidence in our justice system, regardless of what the judges find on the merits of the case.”
Another climate lawsuit brought by young people was successful: Earlier this year, the Montana Supreme Court upheld a landmark ruling requiring regulators to consider the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions before issuing permits for fossil fuel development.
That case was also brought by Our Children’s Trust. The law firm has filed climate lawsuits in every state on behalf of young plaintiffs since 2010.
