A group of young people whose climate lawsuit against the federal government was rejected by federal appellate judges is seeking a lifeline from the Supreme Court — via a death penalty case out of Texas.
In a petition filed Monday, the young challengers behind Juliana v. United States said the capital case, which the high court will examine next year, raises a question “nearly identical” to their own and urged the justices to revive their lawsuit.
By agreeing to take up the death row case, Gutierrez v. Saenz, “this Court necessarily determined that the question presented there, as here, merits review,” lawyers for the Juliana challengers wrote in their petition.
Not all petitions become Supreme Court cases. The Juliana challengers earlier this year tried — and failed — to get the justices to revive their case without a full briefing on the merits, which other environmental lawyers have said could invite the conservative-dominated court to limit who can sue over climate change.
