Our Children’s Trust, the climate legal advocacy group known for state-level wins in Hawaii and Montana, has set its sights on federal policy with a new lawsuit challenging recent Executive Orders (EOs) promoting fossil fuels production. The organization summarizes its main legal arguments in a recent press release alleging that the EOs are legally insufficient due to three core claims:
- “Right to Life (Fifth Amendment): These executive orders increase climate pollution and endanger young people’s right to Life and Liberty.
- Executive Overreach (Ultra Vires Action): The President has no constitutional or statutory authority to override laws like the Clean Air Act or invoke emergency powers to expand fossil fuel development in ways that endanger children’s lives
- Government-Inflicted Harm (Stated-Created Danger Doctrine): Plaintiffs are challenging the government’s direct role in creating and escalating harm by intentionally increasing fossil fuel pollution, suppressing climate science, and blocking solutions to the climate crisis. Under the state-created danger doctrine, the government has a duty to protect individuals from harm when it creates or exacerbates a known danger.”
This lawsuit is distinct from the group’s previous efforts in federal court in that it specifically challenges the administration’s new slate of EOs rather than federal energy policy generally. The Plaintiffs include 22 youths from Montana, Oregon, Hawaii, California, and Florida, including ten original plaintiffs from the successful Montana state litigation (more than just “the two yutes“). In addition to challenging the legal authority of the EOs, Plaintiffs also challenge the federal government’s efforts to scrub climate science from federal websites and publications. The nature of the EOs and the pivot in federal climate policy may give enough substance for the suit to find some success. We’ll see if this shot in federal court fares better than the group’s previous attempts.
Our members can find out more about climate and ESG litigation here.
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