‘WAITING IS NOT AN OPTION’

Youth Activists Appeal Ruling That Says Government Can’t Be Sued Over Climate Change

A judge ruled in January that the group of 21 youth activists cannot sue the U.S. government for compromising a “liveable climate” with fossil fuels.

A group of youth climate activists are filing an appeal to a January ruling that determined they cannot sue the United States government for compromising “a liveable climate” by its continued use of fossil fuels. The group of 21 children and young adults between the ages of eight and 19 claimed that they have a right to a “climate system capable of sustaining human life,” and that the federal government has failed to sufficiently address the climate crisis. “In overturning the district court, the majority fundamentally changed the way our branches of our government operate, placing the president and Congress beyond the reach of judicial oversight. If this opinion stands, there will be no more constitutional checks and balances on government conduct,” said Philip Gregory, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. Judge Andrew Hurwitz, from the 9th Circuit Court, said in January that the court “reluctantly” concluded that addressing climate change concerns in the suit “is beyond our constitutional power.” U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton, the only dissenting judge in the ruling, urged that “waiting is not an option.”