Lighthiser v. Trump

In an unpublished memorandum, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of youth and young adult plaintiffs’ lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of three energy-related executive orders issued by President Trump: Executive Order 14154, “Unleashing American Energy”; Executive Order 14156, “Declaring a National Energy Emergency”; and Executive Order 14261, “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241.” The Ninth Circuit agreed with the district court that the plaintiffs lacked standing, but in addition to concluding that its decision in Juliana v. United States foreclosed the existence of the redressability element of standing, the Ninth Circuit also found that the plaintiffs did not plausibly allege that the executive orders caused their climate change-related injuries. The district court had found that the plaintiffs satisfied the standing requirement that alleged injuries be “fairly traceable” to the challenged actions, but the Ninth Circuit determined that the link between the executive orders and the alleged injuries was “too speculative” to support standing because courts could not predict how government agencies and officials might exercise their discretion. Regarding redressability, the Ninth Circuit concluded both that the plaintiffs did not plausibly allege that injunctive relief barring implementation of the executive orders would redress their injuries and also that the requested injunction would be beyond the courts’ Article III power. In addition, the Ninth Circuit stated that “a sweeping injunction against hundreds of agency actions in one lawsuit” was “unprecedented”; the appellate court viewed the suit as an attempt “to circumvent the jurisdictional and procedural rules Congress has established for challenges to agency actions.” The Ninth Circuit also rejected the argument that declaratory relief alone could redress their injuries and found that the district court did not abuse its discretion by allowing the plaintiffs leave to amend their complaint.