Landmark Climate Case Sent to Trial by Oregon Federal Judge (1)

A landmark climate case brought by a group of 21 young people can finally proceed to trial, after a federal judge in Oregon denied the government’s latest attempt to dismiss the case.

“Exercising ‘reasoned judgment,” the court finds that the right to a climate system that can sustain human life is fundamental to a free and ordered society,” Judge Ann L. Aiken of the US District Court for the District of Oregon said in her Dec. 29 opinion.

The case, extensively litigated since 2015, claims that the government’s reliance on fossil fuels violates their constitutional rights to a stable climate. ...