{"id":409630,"date":"2025-10-22T14:10:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T12:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=409630"},"modified":"2025-10-22T14:10:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T12:10:20","slug":"judge-dismisses-suit-by-young-climate-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=409630","title":{"rendered":"Judge dismisses suit by young climate activists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plaintiffs had \u2018overwhelming evidence\u2019 of climate crisis, but a court injunction would be \u2018unworkable\u2019, ruling says<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Maya Yang<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by young climate activists that aimed to halt\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s pro-fossil fuel<\/a>\u00a0executive orders. The Guardian<\/a> has the story.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dismissal by US district judge Dana Christensen on Wednesday came after 22 plaintiffs, ages seven to 25 and from five states, sought to block three of the president\u2019s executive orders, including those declaring a \u201cnational energy emergency\u201d and seeking to \u201cunleash American energy\u201d \u2013 as well as one aimed at \u201creinvigorating\u201d the US\u2019s production of coal<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the plaintiffs<\/a>, the executive orders amount to unlawful executive overreach and breach the state-created danger doctrine \u2013 a legal principle designed to prevent government officials from causing harm to their citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the plaintiffs were also several young individuals who had previously been part of the landmark 2023 Held v Montana case<\/a> \u2013 the first constitutional climate trial in the United States. In that case, a judge ruled in favor of the youth plaintiffs who argued that the Montana state government had violated their constitutional right to a healthy environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Wednesday\u2019s\u00a0ruling<\/a>, Christensen said that the plaintiffs presented \u201coverwhelming evidence that the climate is changing at a staggering pace, and that this change stems from the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide, caused by the production and burning of fossil fuels\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Christensen said: \u201cYet while this court is certainly troubled by the very real harms presented by climate change and the challenged [executive orders\u2019] effect on carbon dioxide emissions, this concern does not automatically confer upon it the power to act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cGranting plaintiffs\u2019 injunction would require the defendant agencies, and \u2013 ultimately \u2013 this court, to scrutinize every climate-related agency action taken since\u201d the start of Trump\u2019s second presidency on 20 January 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn other words, this court would be required to monitor an untold number of federal agency actions to determine whether they contravene its injunction. This is, quite simply, an unworkable request for which plaintiffs provide no precedent,\u201d Christensen continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Dana L. Christensen<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dana Lewis Christensen<\/strong>\u00a0(born May 23, 1951) is a\u00a0United States district judge<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0United States District Court for the District of Montana<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 4, 2011, President\u00a0Barack Obama<\/a>\u00a0nominated Christensen to a vacant seat on the United States District Court for the District of Montana<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by young climate activists that aimed to halt\u00a0Donald Trump\u2019s pro-fossil fuel\u00a0executive orders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":409652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"A federal judge dismissed a climate lawsuit from young activists, citing overwhelming evidence but deeming an injunction unworkable.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Youth Activists Face Court Ruling Against Climate Lawsuit","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818608,691818102,691839011,691827871,691818228,691833487],"class_list":{"0":"post-409630","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-climate-activists","9":"tag-climate-crisis","10":"tag-dana-lewis-christensen","11":"tag-executive-orders","12":"tag-fossil-fuels","13":"tag-us-president-donald-j-trump","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQOcrwT4MD3SBHRzP6g1QZh9ORBfxtT2pGKhapoTvvT6IOREv-9_X9dYujWtW93gSfydAiMtxVujwLEEyKA85ghrF7TOLIXnaFzZxw7pwbrQXK3xc35JdX-dYXgNCmkr-1.jpeg?fit=1543%2C920&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1IyW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":219835,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=219835","url_meta":{"origin":409630,"position":0},"title":"Virginia 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