Cutting-Edge Technology

In 2015, as the climate crisis truly began to centre itself around the public eye, a group of young activists, with ages ranging from 9 to 20, filed a lawsuit against the United States claiming a breach of their constitutional right to life and liberty under the Fifth Amendment. Whilst it may have appeared a futile series of proceedings considering the broad nature of the suit, Juliana v. United States would come to have a truly momentous impact on the responsibility of the law to endorse environmentalism, and the significance of climate litigation as the world edges further into crisis.

The juvenile group of plaintiffs, with the support of ‘Our Children’s Trust’, a non-profit law firm dedicated to promoting the rights of youths, decided to challenge the state’s abuse of oil through a legal medium, aiming to cap the already extensive damage caused by the Biden Administration’s environmental negligence. The cohort made the case that, due to their continued support of fossil fuel extraction initiatives and therefore the causation of perilously high levels of carbon dioxide concentration, the federal government was impeding the constitutional rights of these 21 individuals towards life, liberty, and property under the Due Process Clause. 

The Biden Administration, in response, adopted the Trumpian tactics of postponement, dragging out the case by repeatedly calling for writs of mandamus. This led to the procedure of the case being stretched out over more than 8 years. Yet, last December, due to the vigour of Judge Ann Aiken in the District of Oregon, the route to trial was eventually set out. This displays the power of legal activism and how, with the ardour of youth voices, great change begins to seem less and less out of reach. 

Indeed, as the plaintiffs await a ruling from Judge Aiken in the Ninth Circuit Court, it is unlikely that the lawsuit will prevail. Nevertheless, the precedent of action set by this ambitious group is irrevocable. It is estimated by Columbia University’s Sabin Centre for Climate Change Law that around 2000 climate change suits have been filed by activism groups in the U.S alone: whilst in the coming years many of these cases will too face strong dismissal and suppression, the perception of the law as a mechanism for environmental change is becoming increasingly popular, and due to the sheer potency of the field of climate litigation, the possibility is only growing that our governments will soon be forced to truly come to terms with climate issues under the force of the law.