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Gone in a Flash: Lightheiser v. Trump

Through the enactment of three executive orders, the Trump Administration has sought to accelerate the deployment of fossil fuels, boost investment in coal, disincentivize wind and solar energy, and reverse climate policies established by the previous administration. In opposition, environmental groups have mobilized nationwide. In May, Our Children’s Trust, a nonprofit public interest law firm, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging these orders, citing the harm they inflict upon youth and their constitutional right to life and liberty.

The case, Lightenheiser v. Trump, closely emulates that of Juliana v. United States, a landmark case in which the Ninth Circuit ruled that the youth plaintiffs suing the government for adopting policies that accelerated carbon emissions lacked legal standing. Similarly, a federal district in Montana issued a binding precedent this month declaring that Lightenheiser v. Trump lacked a legal basis because a judicial decision could not adequately ameliorate the harms presented by the plaintiffs. According to the court, the plaintiffs were incapable of surmounting the ‘final, dispositive hurdle’ that the relief would be outside the court’s power to grant. Simply stated, the issue of climate change, although existent, was unconquerable through the means of the judicial branch.

Notably, both Lightheiser v. Trump and Juliana v. United States acknowledged that the plaintiffs had proven sufficient injury, but essentially argued that the issue of alleviating climate change was too broad and failed to meet the requirements of redressability. Julia Olson, chief legal counsel at Our Children’s Trust and lead attorney for the youth plaintiffs, shared that the decision produced devastation across the plaintiffs: “I think the most prevalent sentiment was, how can a judge see us and see the harm we’re experiencing and see that these executive orders are going to worsen our physical injuries, and then say that there’s nothing he can do about it?

According to Jesse Jenkins, an energy systems engineer at Princeton University, proceeding with the executive orders is expected to lead to an estimated 205 million metric tons of additional annual climate pollution by 2027 and 510 million metric tons of additional annual emissions by 2035. Our Children’s Trust has shared that it plans to submit an expedited appeal to the Ninth Circuit. Despite this being the same court that dismissed Juliana v. United States, the organization’s lawyers have assured that the conduct they seek to address is entirely different.

Evalina Sain (CC’29) is a Climate Challenges Representative at Columbia Academics in Foreign Affairs (CAFA), intending to study Sustainable Development and Political Science