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The federal court system will not give a youth-led constitutional climate lawsuit additional consideration after a panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied a petition to rehear the case before the full circuit.

Lighthiser v. Trump is one of a series of youth-led climate change lawsuits brought by Our Children’s Trust, an Oregon-based advocacy law firm, which also successfully litigated Held v. Montana in 2023, a landmark climate case that found the Montana Constitution guarantees the right to “a clean and healthful” environment.

The plaintiffs in the Lighthiser case include young people from Montana, Oregon, Hawaii, California and Florida.

The lawsuit was first argued before a federal judge in Missoula who “reluctantly” dismissed the case.

In June, a three-judge panel of the circuit court also rejected the lawsuit’s arguments that three executive orders President Donald Trump signed early in his second term will accelerate human-caused climate change and harm the youth.

Juliana Leon Died in a Climate-Linked Heat Wave. Her Daughter Is Suing Big Oil.

A major sticking........

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