Gosh, I Wonder What Will Happen - Young Americans Filing Climate Lawsuit Turn To SCOTUS For Writ Of Mandamus
A group of young people who filed a landmark climate change lawsuit in 2015 against the federal government, only to have their suit thrown out, are turning to the Supreme Court in an attempt to revive the case and get their day in court.
This kind of request to the Supreme Court is unusual, but the plaintiffs supported their position by arguing that the federal government had stymied the process with similar courtroom maneuvers over the years. “The Department of Justice has entirely blocked our path to trial,” one of the plaintiffs, Sahara Valentine, 20, said in an interview. “It’s really important to us that we get a fair say in court.”
The case, Juliana v. U.S., accused the federal government of violating the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs by exacerbating the climate crisis with energy policies based on fossil fuels, despite voluminous evidence of their danger to the planet. It was first filed in federal court in Oregon and almost went to trial. But the Justice Department during the Obama administration began a push to get the case thrown out and succeeded at an appellate court in 2020. In May, the same appellate court also directed a lower court to dismiss an amended complaint.
On Thursday, the group filed a petition for what’s called a “writ of mandamus” with the Supreme Court asking it to vacate the May ruling and send the case back to the district court to stand trial. The filing argued that the government had bogged down the case in procedural issues rather than letting it be decided on its merits. The Justice Department declined to comment.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/12/climate/juliana-lawsuit-supreme-court.html