Joshua Roberts/Reuters
The Supreme Court refused to halt a lawsuit filed by 21 young people who are accusing the U.S. government of violating their constitutional rights by not fighting climate change, The Washington Post reports. The court denied the Trump Administration’s emergency request to stop the 2015 lawsuit. Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch noted in the decision that they would grant the application; the other Justices didn’t specify how they had responded to it. The court’s three-page order reportedly told the Trump administration they should “seek relief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.” The order also reportedly noted the lawsuit's “assortment of unprecedented legal theories,” like the “substantive due process right to certain climate conditions, and an equal protection right to live in the same climate as enjoyed by prior generations.” According to The New York Times, the plaintiffs are between the ages of 11 and 22. They reportedly claim the government’s actions and inactions regarding climate change are violating their rights to “freedom from deprivation of life, liberty, and property” by allegedly creating an increasingly inhabitable environment for their adult years.