Our Children’s Trust wins a case in Montana upholding the right of children to a safe and livable climate
On December 18, 2024, Our Children’s Trust won a case in the Montana Supreme Court upholding the right of children to a safe and livable climate. This is a historic decision. The Montana Supreme Court upheld a decision of a district court in Montana. But the December 18 decision is the first of its kind from a state supreme court.
Our Children’s Trust is a public service law firm that has been suing the governments to establish the right of children to a safe and livable environment not to be sacrificed by fossil fuel interests. The first lawsuit Our Children’s Trust filed was a lawsuit against the U.S. government (Juliana vs US ) which the U.S. Justice Department has stopped from being heard in court.
Bruce Pruitt-Hamm, the treasurer of WWFOR and a retired lawyer wrote in an email on Dec 23, 2024 “The latest news is that the Montana Supreme Court, on appeal, nearly unanimously upheld the lower court’s 2023 decision. Here are the basics from the OCT news release explaining the victory.
Helena, MT —In a historic ruling today, the Montana Supreme Court affirmed 6-1 the decision of the district court in the landmark case, Held v. State of Montana, siding with the 16 youth plaintiffs who had sued the state over its promotion of fossil fuel extraction and its failure to consider climate change impacts in its decision-making. This ruling, the first of its kind from a state supreme court, affirms the district court’s ruling that the state’s acts in perpetuating a fossil fuel energy system with blind eyes violated the youth plaintiffs’ fundamental constitutional rights to a clean and healthful environment, dignity, and safety, reinforcing the growing legal momentum behind youth-led climate justice movements. District Court Judge Kathy Seeley’s August 2023 decision, upheld today, made Held v. State of Montana the first youth-led constitutional climate lawsuit in U.S. history to go to trial and secure a victory. In her ruling, Judge Seeley stated: “Each additional ton of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere exacerbates impacts to the climate. Plaintiffs’ injuries will grow increasingly severe and irreversible without science-based actions to address climate change.” Judge Seeley also ruled that the fundamental right to a clean and healthful environment enshrined in Montana’s Constitution incorporates the climate system and that Montana’s environment is unconstitutionally degraded due to the current level of greenhouse gases concentrations and climate impacts. The Montana Supreme Court today upheld these findings, ruling that state laws prohibiting the consideration of greenhouse gas emissions or climate impacts during fossil fuel permitting decisions and laws preventing constitutional remedies in court were unconstitutional. Today’s ruling requires the state to ensure it considers the environmental and public health consequences, and significantly the harm to children, of each proposed fossil fuel project, marking a turning point in Montana’s energy policy.”
