“Youth Group Asks Supreme Court to Revive a Landmark Climate Lawsuit" Article Reflection No. 110 (9/14/2024)

Article: “Youth Group Asks Supreme Court to Revive a Landmark Climate Lawsuit”

Reflection: 

In The New York Times article “Youth Group Asks Supreme Court to Revive a Landmark Climate Lawsuit,”  journalist Karen Zraick discusses Juliana v. U.S., a lawsuit filed by a climate youth group against the federal government. The climate youth group claims that the government transgressed constitutional rights through “danger[ous]” energy decisions that worsen climate change (Zraick, par. 4). Although the case was thrown out by the Justice Department in 2020 then indirectly for a second time this May, the youth group made a request to the Supreme Court this week to allow their case back in court for trial, according to Zraick. Those against bringing the case to trial claim that it will not provide a “‘workable remedy that could be ordered or enforced’” at the end (Zraick, par. 10), according to the article. 

This article is interesting because the lawsuit is so expansive and important. When I think of climate-related court cases, I think of specific events or lawsuits against specific corporations or products; however, I have never thought about the possibility of holding the whole government responsible for so many of its energy-related decisions.