Climate Lawsuit Filed by Kids Ends, Plaintiffs Now Adults

The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a petition filed by young climate activists who argued that the federal government's role in climate change violated their constitutional rights, ending a decadelong legal battle that saw many of the plaintiffs grow from children and teenagers into adults, the AP reports. 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. The case—called Juliana v. 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 wanted the court to hold a trial on whether the US government was violating their fundamental rights to life and liberty by operating a fossil-fuel based energy system. The case wound its way through the legal system for years.
• At one point in 2018, a trial was halted by US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts just days before it was to begin.
• In 2020, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the case dismissed, saying the job of determining the nation's climate policies should fall to politicians, not judges. But US District Judge Ann Aiken in Eugene, Oregon, instead allowed the activists to amend their lawsuit and ruled the case could go to trial.
• Last year, acting on a request from the Biden administration, a three-judge 9th Circuit panel issued an order requiring Aiken to dismiss the case, and she did.
• The plaintiffs then sought, unsuccessfully, to revive the lawsuit through their petition to the US Supreme Court.
• Our Children's Trust, the nonprofit law firm that represented the plaintiffs, is now preparing a new federal action that is "rooted in the same constitutional principles that guided the Juliana case," Olson said.

Read more on what's next here. (More climate change stories.)