A helicopter drops flame retardant on the Cow Valley Fire in eastern Oregon on July 12, 2024. Scientists expect wildfires to continue to intensify with climate change. (Photo by Matt Fisher of Umatilla Task Force/Northwest Interagency Coordination Center)
More than 40 members of Congress, including Oregon Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to breathe new life into a climate lawsuit filed nearly a decade ago by 21 young Americans, including 11 Oregonians.
Merkley and Wyden are among the Democrats and one independent, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who have filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the lawsuit, Juliana v. United States. The lawsuit argues that the federal government’s continued support for fossil fuel production and failure to mitigate the worst effects of climate change violate the youths’ right to a livable environment.
“The young people — including Oregonians — fighting for their right to a healthy planet and livable future have my full support,” Merkley said in an emailed statement. “That’s why I am leading my congressional colleagues in an amicus brief in support of this momentous case.”
Wyden, who also emailed a statement, cited the record 1.9 million acres burned in wildfires last year in Oregon and the current “infernos” devastating Los Angeles, saying that climate change poses a significant threat to the health and well-being of Americans.
“I‘m proud to stand with these youth plaintiffs taking a leadership role to press for an urgent, comprehensive, science-based plan to address the climate crisis now,” Wyden said.
The lawsuit has not gone to trial. It suffered a setback last year when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the case on grounds that the plaintiffs’ claims could not be redressed by a verdict in their favor.
Plaintiffs asked the Supreme Court to take up the case, and the new brief supports that request. Their petition comes a month after the Montana Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s decision in another climate change lawsuit brought by young people that Montanans have a right to a clean environment under the state’s constitution.
In the latest case, the government’s response isn’t due until February but it’s unclear whether the court would hear the case this term; the court’s term typically ends in late June or early July. Its docket is packed with cases. But Julia Olson, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said in an interview that a key issue in the case — whether the 9th Circuit erred in dismissing the case on grounds that it failed to meet the “redressability requirement” — is critical to two other cases that the court is scheduled to hear.
Olson said the best result for the plaintiffs would be for the high court to rule on the issue in those cases, and then order the 9th Circuit to reconsider its ruling in the Juliana case in light of its decisions.
The brief filed by the member of Congress also argues that allowing the 9th Circuit decision to stand would gut a landmark 1935 measure, the Declaratory Judgment Act, intended to ensure that plaintiffs can petition federal courts for declaratory relief, a court statement of the rights and obligations of the parties. Such access to the courts is “a necessary part of an effective system for the administration of justice,” the brief said.
Since the lawsuit was filed, Olson said, it’s been fought by government attorneys from three different presidential administrations, Republicans and Democrats alike.
“This is a nonpartisan issue,” she said. “It’s a nonpartisan case, and the reality is that both Democrats and Republicans have done a tremendous amount to keep fossil fuels in place and to keep people out of court. Our government does not want to be hauled into court, and so they fight really hard … which is all the more reason why we need neutral judges to be able to weigh in and look at the evidence.”
Despite the setbacks, the case already has made a mark, Olson said. It’s taught in law schools around the country, she said, and “we just learned it’s taught in all the environmental law classes in China’s law schools. … You know, win or lose, it will make a huge difference, and it will be looked at in history.”
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