-Source-Forbes-
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the 21 youth plaintiffs in the constitutional climate change lawsuit filed against the federal government, Juliana v. United States.
The plaintiffs allege that the United States government’s affirmative actions caused climate change, violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, and failed to protect essential public trust resources.
In this latest step of a fascinating bit of constitutional law called Atmospheric Trust Litigation, the Court denied the Trump administration’s application for stay, preserving the U.S. District Court’s trial start date of October 29, 2018. The Supreme Court also denied the government’s premature request to review the case before the district court hears all of the facts that support the youth’s claims at trial.
The Supreme Court’s decision follows the July 20th decision in favor of the youths from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which also denied the government’s highly unusual second petition for writ of mandamus. Mandamus is a court order from a higher court to a government agency, which can also include a lower court, to follow the law by correcting its prior actions.
Mandamus is usually issued to correct defects of justice but SCOTUS didn’t feel anything was wrong in how this lawsuit was proceeding. Read more
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