Time - Justin Worland
'We are standing here to fight and protect everything that we love'
A group of young Americans suing the federal government to demand
increased efforts on climate change won a notable battle Thursday, as a
federal court rejected the government’s request to dismiss the case.
The ruling paves the way for the 21 plaintiffs—who range in age from 9
to 20—to take their case to trial in federal court. A ruling in their
favor could be a landmark decision on climate change, though it would
almost certainly be appealed to a Supreme Court that is set to become
more conservative in the wake of Donald Trump’s win.
“We are standing here to fight and protect everything that we
love—from our land to our waters to the mountains to the rivers and
forests,” Xiuhtezcatl Martinez,
a 16-year-old plaintiff in the case told supporters after a hearing in
Eugene, Ore. this fall. “This is the moment where we decide what kind of
legacy we are going to leave behind for future generations.”
The case rests on the legal argument that climate change threatens
the plaintiffs’ fundamental constitutional right to life and liberty.
Julia Olson, a lawyer for the plaintiffs and executive director of Our
Children’s Trust, argued in court that the federal government has
understood the threat of climate change for decades and knowingly put
the lives of future generations in danger. The current measures in place
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are insufficient and not aligned
with current science, she argued.
The lawsuit awkwardly puts President Obama’s Justice Department in a
position arguing that the children do not have standing to sue—even
though Obama himself has made climate action a priority. Sean Duffy, a
lawyer for the Justice Department, acknowledged in a September hearing
that climate change poses an urgent threat but dismissed the idea that
individual citizens could sue the federal government over the issue. The
federal government has no means to address the complaint, Duffy argued.
Quin Sorenson, a lawyer representing industry interests including the
American Petroleum Institute, supported that argument and added others.
But in the hearing Judge Ann Aiken appeared not just sympathetic to
the children—most of whom were seated in the front of the courtroom—but
also downright hostile toward the challengers. Aiken seemed to suggest
that the court could play a role bringing the federal government to the
table with environmental activists to negotiate an agreement.
“I would think the government would want the help of the courts to
push the good work it’s doing,” she told Duffy. “There is so much common
ground.”
Of course, that common ground will like evaporate as soon as Trump takes office in January. Trump repeatedly rejected
the science of man-made climate change as a candidate and promised to
undo many existing regulations. A lawsuit forcing policymakers to the
table to take action on climate change would be a game-changing—if
unlikely—victory for climate change activists at an otherwise dark
moment.
This week’s victory is only a preliminary step forward for the novel
lawsuit. The case now faces an actual trial and whatever decision
emerges will inevitably be appealed, perhaps as far as the U.S. Supreme
Court. The Court ruled in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency that
the EPA needs to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles. But
the Court has changed since then and will continue to change with Trump
in office.
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