Youth Plaintiffs Announce Appeal in Lighthiser v. Trump, Federal Right to Life Case
Media Contacts:
Julia Olson, Chief Legal Counsel, 415.786.4825, julia@ourchildrenstrust.org
Helen Britto, Comms. Associate Director, press@ourchildrenstrust.org
Nicole Funaro, Media Relations Strategist, 203.435.1722, nfunaro@publicjustice.net
Federal court dismisses youth-led constitutional case, but plaintiffs will appeal
MISSOULA, M.T. — The 22 young Americans in Lighthiser v. Trump announced today that they will appeal a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana dismissing their constitutional right to life case and denying their request for a preliminary injunction blocking President Trump’s executive orders that direct unleashing fossil fuel energy at the expense of wind and solar. The court found it lacked the power to redress plaintiffs’ injuries.
Judge Dana Christensen said he reached his opinion on Article III redressability “reluctantly,” explaining that he read the Ninth Circuit’s 2020 opinion in Juliana v. United States “to mandate this outcome.” He wrote that “if the Ninth Circuit disagrees, the undersigned welcomes the return of this case to decide it on the merits.”
“Judge Christensen said he reached his decision reluctantly and invited the Ninth Circuit to correct him so these young Americans can have their case heard—and the Ninth Circuit should do just that,” said Julia Olson, Chief Legal Counsel at Our Children’s Trust and lead attorney for the plaintiffs. “Every day these executive orders remain in effect, these 22 young Americans suffer irreparable harm to their health, safety, and future. The judge recognized that the government’s fossil fuel directives are injuring these youth, but said his hands were tied by precedent. We will appeal—because courts cannot offer more protection to fossil fuel companies seeking to preserve their profits than to young Americans seeking to preserve their rights. This violates not only the Constitution and Supreme Court precedent, but the most basic principles of justice.“
Filed earlier this year, Lighthiser v. Trump challenges three executive orders issued by President Trump during his second term that direct the federal government to “unleash” fossil fuels, obstruct clean energy development, and suppress critical climate science from public access. The youth plaintiffs—who come from Montana, Oregon, California, Hawai‘i, and Florida—allege these actions violate their Fifth Amendment rights to life and liberty and represent unlawful overreach by the executive branch.
The ruling follows a historic two-day evidentiary hearing held in Missoula, Montana — the first time in U.S. history that youth plaintiffs in a constitutional climate case presented live testimony in federal court. Over the course of the hearing, the plaintiffs shared deeply personal accounts of the escalating harms they experience due to President Trump’s executive orders, including wildfire evacuations, heat strokes, and mental health trauma.
Expert witnesses in public health, climate science, energy, and economics presented detailed unrebutted evidence showing that President Trump’s executive orders will increase U.S. carbon emissions by 205 million metric tons annually by 2027 and exacerbate a children’s health emergency driven by fossil fuel pollution. The federal government and state intervenors presented no witnesses, leaving the evidence at the hearing unrebutted that the executive orders will exacerbate climate change, increase electrical costs for ratepayers, and result in thousands of avoidable childhood deaths.
The court recognized the youth plaintiffs’ injuries and the causal link between the executive orders and the worsening climate crisis, but dismissed the case on procedural grounds, saying it lacked the power under Article III to issue the injunction requested.
The court found:
- “Plaintiffs have presented overwhelming evidence that the climate is changing at a staggering pace, and that this change stems from the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide, caused by the production and burning of fossil fuels.”
- “The record further demonstrates that climate change and the exposure from fossil fuels presents a children’s health emergency.”
- The Court said it is “troubled by the very real harms presented by climate change and the Challenged EOs’ effect on carbon dioxide emissions”
- “The Court finds Plaintiffs’ experts sufficiently establish that the Challenged EOs will render a meaningful contribution to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.”
- “Plaintiffs have alleged overwhelming evidence that climate change is affecting them now in concrete ways, and that these effects will imminently worsen as a result of the Challenged EOs.”
- “The Court finds Plaintiffs’ experts sufficiently establish that the Challenged EOs will render a meaningful contribution to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.”
- “Plaintiffs have shown the Challenged EOs will generate an additional 205 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually by 2027, an increase which Plaintiffs convincingly allege will expose them to imminent, increased harm from a warming climate. Indeed, Plaintiffs allege that higher average temperatures and increasing heat waves will increasingly occur should more fossil fuels be “unleashed,” exacerbating air pollution and worsening Plaintiffs’ injuries.”
- “[I]f one dollar of relief [for fossil fuel companies] is sufficient, the reduction of 205 million metric tons per year—and, by 2035, 505 million metric tons—of injury-causing greenhouse gas should be, too.”
The plaintiffs and their legal team are now preparing to expedite an appeal of the dismissal and continue advocating for a trial to fully examine the constitutional violations caused by the federal government’s energy policies.
“The founders of this country believed our rights to life and liberty were the fundamental tenets of a reasoned and just society, among the most sacred of rights to protect from government intrusion and overreach” said Daniel C. Snyder, Director of the Environmental Enforcement Project at Public Justice. “Not only should Americans be outraged by unlawful executive actions that trample upon those rights, but also because the harm these executive orders have inflicted was acknowledged by the court — showing the serious nature of the Plaintiffs’ case. Allowing the burning of fossil fuels to continue will eventually render our Nation unlivable for future generations.”
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Our Children’s Trust was founded in 2010 on the idea that courts are vital to democracy and empowered to protect our children and the planet. Without a stable climate system, every natural resource we rely upon to exercise our basic human rights—life, liberty, home, happiness—is under threat. Our work will be achieved when there is universal recognition of children’s climate rights by courts around the world and children’s fundamental rights to life on this planet are protected. www.ourchildrenstrust.org
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