APPEALS COURT PLACES HOLD ON ACTIVIST-BACKED YOUTH CLIMATE LAWSUIT
Kids ‘Exploited’ - Marc Morano, executive director of Climate Depot, a project of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, says environmentalists’ use of children to enact climate policies they couldn’t get through legislation is just another underhanded tactic activists employ. “Climate activists could not convince Congress to pass cap-and-trade legislation, they could not persuade the American public to be afraid of ‘global warming,’ and they failed to get carbon taxes and UN climate treaties ratified, so they used [President Barack] Obama to bypass democracy and impose domestic climate policy through executive orders, Environmental Protection Agency regulations, and a UN climate pact [Paris Climate Agreement] without Senate ratification,” Morano said. “Now, Trump has undone the regulations and the UN pact, leaving climate activists clinging to the courts as their last gasp. “And what better way to use the courts than to exploit kids in a ridiculous lawsuit?” said Morano. “Using kids to fight the climate change battles is disgusting, but sadly expected. A child-based lawsuit brings in media, money, and attempts to prey on fears of ‘the children’s’ future ruined by ‘climate change.’”
SEPTEMBER 11, 2017
By H. Sterling Burnett
A U.S. Appeals Court ordered a temporary stay in a landmark climate change lawsuit brought against the federal government by 21 youths backed by environmental activist groups.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California ordered a temporary stay in a landmark climate change lawsuit brought against the federal government by several children backed by environmental activist groups.
In Kelsey Cascadia Rose Juliana et al. v. The United States of America et al., 21 people aged 10 to 21 sued the Obama administration, arguing the federal government has violated their constitutional rights by encouraging the use of fossil fuels, which produce greenhouse gases that the plaintiffs say are damaging the climate system. The Obama administration tried to have the cased dismissed in November 2016, but a federal judge denied its request, resulting in President Donald Trump inheriting the case.
The Ninth Circuit court issued its stay on July 25, giving it time to consider a petition filed by the Justice Department in June for a writ of mandamus allowing higher courts to review and overturn lower court decisions before they have even held a trial. The Trump administration is asking the court to intervene, review, and overturn a decision made by a federal judge last year to allow the climate lawsuit to go to trial.
Beginning of the End?
Chris Horner, a senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, says the Ninth Circuit’s ruling could signal an end to the lawsuit.
“It’s entirely possible the panel’s ruling suggests that the end is near for this bizarre matter,” said Horner. “Of course, it’s possible the circus will continue a little while longer, continuing to chew through taxpayer resources to knock off what has to be seen as something of a desperation lawsuit.
