A group of Democratic lawmakers threw their support behind the youth of Juliana v. US on Thursday, asking a circuit court panel to allow the climate case to proceed despite federal attempts at shutting it down.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D) led the friend of the court brief, filed at the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The amici urged the panel to allow the landmark youth climate lawsuit to make it to trial and to reject Justice Department attempts to defeat the case through a recently filed writ of mandamus.
“The executive branch has filed seven petitions for writ of mandamus, an unprecedented measure that has delayed Youth Plaintiffs access to the courts so that a court can hear Plaintiffs’ claims,” according to the brief. “This effort is unique among the more than 40,000 cases the Department of Justice is defending.”
The 21 plaintiffs of Juliana filed their case in 2015, surviving multiple presidential administrations and a dismissal of the case in January 2020. They filed the case again with an amended complaint, which was greenlit for trial by the US District Court for the District of Oregon.
The DOJ filed a writ of mandamus on Feb. 2 in continuous efforts to have the case dismissed. Federal attorneys unsuccessfully tried to pause the case in Oregon district court while their mandamus request works its way through the Ninth Circuit.
The Juliana plaintiffs accuse the government of infringing on youth constitutional rights to life by encouraging fossil fuel development that fuels the climate crisis.
“The executive branch’s duty is to marshal at trial what evidence it can to counter the overwhelming record that has already led this Court to conclude that the government’s actions are causing injury to the Youth Plaintiffs, rather than use procedural tactics to avoid this task,” lawmakers said in their brief.
The case is United States v. U.S. Dist. Court for the Dist. of Or., Eugene, 9th Cir., No. 24-684, Amicus Brief 3/28/24.
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