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Climate Case “Reluctantly” Dismissed by Appeals Court

  • NPR
Levi Draheim, an 11-year-old resident of Indian Harbor Beach, Fla., speaks at a rally in Portland, Ore., Tuesday, June 4, 2019. In a courtroom packed with environmental activists, federal judges wrestled Tuesday with whether climate change violates the constitutional rights of young people who have sued the U.S. government over the use of fossil fuels.

 Steve Dipaola / AP Photo

Levi Draheim, an 11-year-old resident of Indian Harbor Beach, Fla., speaks at a rally in Portland, Ore., Tuesday, June 4, 2019. In a courtroom packed with environmental activists, federal judges wrestled Tuesday with whether climate change violates the constitutional rights of young people who have sued the U.S. government over the use of fossil fuels.

A federal appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by nearly two dozen young people aimed at forcing the federal government to take bolder action on climate change, saying the courts were not the appropriate place to address the issue.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Friday the young plaintiffs had “made a compelling case that action is needed,” but they did not have legal standing to bring the case.

The lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, was filed in 2015 on behalf of a group of children and teenagers who said the U.S. government continued to use and promote the use of fossil fuels, knowing that such consumption would destabilize the climate, putting future generations at risk.

By doing so, the plaintiffs argued, the U.S. government had violated their constitutional rights to life, liberty and property.

Judge Andrew D. Hurwitz agreed with some of that assertion, writing in a 32-page opinion that “the federal government has long promoted fossil fuel use despite knowing that it can cause catastrophic climate change.”

Youth plaintiff Levi Draheim, center, yawns as he gathers with other plaintiffs in the Juliana v United States climate change lawsuit in a federal courthouse for a hearing in front of a panel of judges with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Portland, Ore., on Tuesday, June 4, 2019. The lawsuit by a group of young people who say U.S. energy policies are causing climate change and hurting their future faces a major hurdle Tuesday as lawyers for the Trump administration argue to stop the case from moving forward. (Robin Loznak/Pool Photo via AP)

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