The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on March 7 that the United States and other federal petitioners had not met the “high bar” for the appellate court to order a district court to dismiss the climate change lawsuit brought by 21 young people in the District of Oregon. The Ninth Circuit found that the issues raised by the petitioners—the threat of burdensome discovery and concerns regarding separation of powers—were “better addressed through the ordinary course of litigation.” The Ninth Circuit said the request for relief from potentially burdensome discovery was “entirely premature” because the district court had not issued a single discovery order and the plaintiffs had not filed a single motion to compel discovery. The Ninth Circuit also said it was “not persuaded that simply allowing the usual legal processes to go forward” would threaten the separation of powers. The opinion noted that Congress had not exempted the government from the normal rules of appellate procedure, “which anticipate that sometimes defendants will incur burdens of litigating cases that lack merit but still must wait for the normal appeals process to contest rulings against them.” In addition, the Ninth Circuit found that the conceded absence of controlling precedent weighed strongly against finding clear error in the district court’s denial of the motion to dismiss. The Ninth Circuit also said that the novelty of the issues presented did not warrant the relief sought because the denial of the motion to dismiss did not present a risk that the issues would evade appellate review.

Action by young plaintiffs asserting that the federal government violated their constitutional rights by causing dangerous carbon dioxide concentrations. [Due to a technical issue, some documents are currently not available.]

United States v. U.S. District Court for District of Oregon

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Ninth Circuit Declined to Intervene in Young People’s Climate Change Case Against Federal Government

Filed

United States of America

Oregon

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

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Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

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A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

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woman and genders outside of the gender binary

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This sector creates and distributes information and entertainment through television, radio, print, and digital platforms.

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Any substance with chemical properties that can cause physical harm to people or damage the environment, including ammonia, carbon monoxide, phosphine, chlorine, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, pesticides, dioxins, microplastics, benzene, asbestos, aflatoxins, fluoride, methanol, and toxins from marine sources.

Ninth Circuit Declined to Intervene in Young People’s Climate Change Case Against Federal Government

Risk

Impacted group

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector