Youth Take The Government To Court Over Its Failure to Address Climate Change<\/a> by Simon Davis-Cohen in The Nation.<\/p>\nThe Text:<\/strong> In an unprecedented federal court case that has made it to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, young people from California are suing the EPA and Departments of Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Energy and Defense under the historic public trust doctrine for failing to devise a climate change recovery plan. In their legal brief, they argue, \u201cFailure to rapidly reduce CO2 emissions and protect and restore the balance of the atmosphere is a violation of Youth\u2019s constitutionally protected rights and is redressable by the Courts.\u201d<\/p>\nThe public trust doctrine has its roots in antquity, deriving from the Roman \u201cCode of Justinian.\u201d Elizabeth Brown of Our Children\u2019s Trust, the group coordinating the legal efforts, explains that the doctrine is a duty all sovereigns have to safeguard public resources that future generations will depend on for survival. It is an \u201cattribute of sovereignty,\u201d \u201cimplicit in our constitution,\u201d the \u201cwhite board of our democracy,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The National Association of Manufacturers, which is intervening in support of the government agencies, argues in its brief that \u201cin no case has any court ever invoked the doctrine to compel regulatory action by the federal government, much less adoption of a sweeping new regulatory agenda of the type sought by these plaintiffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s true. There is no precedent. But that\u2019s kind of the point. Conventional efforts to harness climate change through litigation have failed. The public\u2019s trust in government to tackle climate change has been squashed. The agencies the youth are suing have come up short on the issue of the millennium. We\u2019re clearly in need of some precedent-setting litigation.<\/p>\n
In tandem with the federal lawsuit, similar efforts by youth, also guided by Our Children\u2019s Trust, are aimed at state agencies in Alaska, New Mexico, Oregon and Texas.<\/p>\n
In an amicus brief to the federal case, a group of sympathetic law professors explained that a legislature cannot deprive \u201ca future legislature of the natural resources necessary to provide for the well-being and survival of its citizens\u2026. Through the Public Trust Doctrine, the Constitution governs for the perpetual preservation of the Nation.\u201d Since climate change would cripple the government\u2019s ability to provide for its citizens, they argue, the use of the public trust doctrine is appropriate and necessary.<\/p>\n
Citing case law from the 1890s, these youth and their advisors are digging deep to find a tool to wield against a government that has legally betrayed their trust. Whether the case makes it to the Supreme Court has yet to be seen (the appeals court hearing is scheduled for May 2). But for the climate movement this is really a win-win. Either a landmark case compels the US government to act on climate change, or yet another betrayal of trust radicalizes an organized, and legally savvy, network of youth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Article: Youth Take The Government To Court Over Its Failure to Address Climate Change by Simon Davis-Cohen in The Nation. The Text: In an unprecedented federal court case that has made it to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, young people from California are suing the EPA and Departments of Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Energy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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