Court allows climate change trial
Trump administration fails to sway appeals judges
A federal appeals court in San Francisco rejected the Trump administration’s request Friday to block the trial of a lawsuit by 21 young people who accuse the government of endangering their futures, and the planet, by failing to act against global warming.
While the administration’s requests to suspend or dismiss the unprecedented suit have been denied by federal courts in Oregon and San Francisco, the administration has already asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. The administration’s filing this week argued that youths’ “alleged injuries” stem from “emissions from every source in the world over decades,” and that Americans have no constitutional right to “certain climate conditions.”
The lawsuit was filed in Oregon in 2015 during President Barack Obama’s administration, by plaintiffs from different states who now range in age from 10 to 21.
The suit, supported by a number of environmental groups, said government officials have known for decades that oil, coal and other fossil fuels emit carbon dioxide that heats the atmosphere, but have promoted mining and use of those fuels while temperatures reach historic levels.
The suit relies on the “public trust” doctrine, which holds the government responsible for managing natural resources, such as air, land and water, for the benefit of the people. If they prove constitutional violations, the youths want the courts to order the government to establish a carbon-free energy system by midcentury.
The Obama administration, while making efforts to reduce carbon emissions, opposed the suit. President Trump, added
as a defendant after taking office, has denied that humans are a significant cause of climate change.
In March, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the administration’s attempt to dismiss the suit, upholding a decision by a federal judge in Oregon that the youths could try to prove their rights were violated. The administration then filed what it described as an emergency motion this month to block the trial, now scheduled for Oct. 29, and to suspend all “discovery,” or courtapproved requests for evidence from the government. The appeals court refused again.
“The government has made no showing that it would be meaningfully prejudiced by engaging in discovery or trial,” the court said in a 3-0 ruling Friday. The court also rejected the administration’s argument that allowing the case to proceed would intrude on executive authority, violating the constitutional separation of powers, and said the trial judge could address objections to specific requests for evidence.
Asked for comment, the Justice Department referred a reporter to its pending Supreme Court appeal. The appeal said the suit was “an attempt to redirect federal environmental and energy policies through the courts rather than through the political process, by asserting a new and unsupported fundamental due process right to certain climate conditions.”
In response, Philip Gregory, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said, “The Trump administration is scared to go to trial, which will present stories of these young people’s lives, climate science and the Constitution before a federal judge.”