Young climate activists suing over President Donald Trump’s sweeping directives to boost fossil fuels are invoking a seemingly unrelated court ruling — one that blocked a Montana law prohibiting drag performances in public schools — to bolster their case.
In a supplemental brief filed Tuesday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the 22 young people said the court’s March ruling on the Montana drag ban supports their argument that the bench has the authority to hear their case against Trump’s executive orders. The crux of their argument is that the prior case demonstrates that courts have the power to hand climate activists a victory — even if they find they don’t have jurisdiction over rising greenhouse gas emissions.
“A favorable decision need not solve climate change, and it need not even prevent plaintiffs from suffering similar injuries from conduct not challenged in this case,” attorneys with Our Children’s Trust, the Oregon-based law firm representing the youth, told the 9th Circuit.
Citing the 9th Circuit’s decision in the Montana drag ban case, the attorneys wrote that a “small incremental step to reduce the risk of harm to the plaintiffs to some extent is enough.”
