Billings, Mont. — Billings, Mont. (AP) – A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit from… Young climate activists It seeks to block President Donald Trump’s executive orders that promote fossil fuels and discourage renewable energy.
Activists said that these orders would exacerbate global warming, threaten their lives, and violate their constitutional rights.
Lawyers for the US Department of Justice and more than a dozen states urged Judge Dana Christensen to dismiss the case.
Among the plaintiffs were young men who won in A Historical climate experience v. Montana State. Christensen said in a 31-page order that the plaintiffs have shown “overwhelming evidence” that climate change affects them and will worsen as a result of Trump’s orders.
But the judge said their request to block Trump’s orders was an “unenforceable request” that would have required scrutiny of every climate-related action taken since the Republican came to office. Instead of the courts, plaintiffs should take their case “to the political branches or voters,” Christensen said.
Legal experts said the young activists and their lawyers from the environmental group Our Children’s Trust faced long hardships. The Montana Constitution states that people have the “right to a clean and healthy environment.” This language is absent from the United States Constitution.
A previous federal climate lawsuit in Oregon from Our Children’s Trust lasted a decade before that The US Supreme Court declined to consider Their last appeal is this year.
Christensen cited that case to conclude that plaintiffs in Montana lack standing to sue the government. This is because they failed to prove that their request for judicial intervention was likely to cure their injuries through procedures within the court’s jurisdiction, the judge wrote.
Only a few other states, including Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New York, have environmental protections written into their constitutions.
Carbon dioxide, which is emitted when fossil fuels are burned, traps heat in the atmosphere and is largely responsible for climate warming.
The Montana Supreme Court upheld the outcome of the 2023 trial last year, requiring officials to more closely analyze greenhouse emissions. So far, that has produced few meaningful changes in a Republican-dominated state.