Earlier this month most of the youth plaintiffs from the landmark climate lawsuit, Held v. Montana brought a new challenge to the courts. In it, they asked the Supreme Court to bypass lower courts and overturn new 2025 laws.
The laws bar the state from regulating planet warming greenhouse gas emissions, and weaken the environmental review process. The young people say all these actions worsen climate change and the harms they suffer from it. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled the state’s constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment includes a stable climate.
But on December 23rd, a panel of five state Supreme Court Justices unanimously denied the petition.
In their decision, the justices wrote the young people’s petition failed to demonstrate why urgency or emergency factors warrant the Supreme Court stepping in. The justices said they should bring their challenge to state district courts.
