A federal appeals court on Wednesday said a climate change lawsuit brought by children against the U.S. government can continue in a lower court, dealing a blow to the Trump administration, which sought to shut the case down.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Trump administration had not shown enough evidence to support ending the case involving 21 children who allege that government policy has exacerbated global warming and climate change.
Our Children’s Trust, representing the group of kids, claims the government, by propping up fossil fuels, has failed to address climate change on behalf of future generations, endangering their health and prosperity. The group originally filed the lawsuit in 2015 in Oregon federal court during the Obama administration.
Both the Trump and Obama administration argued the case threatens the separation of powers, contending that courts cannot rule on broad and speculative issues such as the impact of government policy on climate change.
“The defendants argue that holding a trial on the plaintiffs’ claims and allowing the district court potentially to grant relief would threaten the separation of powers,” wrote Judges Sidney Thomas, Marsha Berzon, and Michelle Friedland, each appointees of former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. “We are not persuaded that simply allowing the usual legal processes to go forward will have that effect in a way not correctable on appellate review.”
Deputy Assistant Attorney General Eric Grant, appointed recently by the Trump administration, asked the Western appeals court to block the lawsuit because he said it would require reshaping the entire U.S. energy system away from fossil fuels.
“It is really extraordinary because plaintiff seeks unprecedented standing to pursue unprecedented claims in pursuit of an unprecedented remedy,” Grant told the three-judge panel during oral arguments.
With the 9th Circuit ruling, however, the lower federal court in Oregon can continue considering the case on its merits.
