Out-of-court manipulation of the courts is the latest play for climate activism. Recognizing the weakness of the merits of their novel litigation theories, trying to hold myriad defendants liable for climate change impacts, climate activists are trying to make an end run around the rigors of the legal system.

The basic strategy: When the law is against you, convince, or even just fool, the arbiters of the law, judges and juries, to abandon their neutrality or become the policymaking saviors of the planet in the face of a claimed broken and gridlocked legislative system — essentially, pushing an only you, the judges or jurors, can save us mentality.