In Held vs. Montana, the next generation asserts their constitutional rights.
The landmark Montana case brings the call for climate action to the courts. Credit: Robin Loznak / Courtesy of Our Children's Trust Climate-concerned youth advocates have officially pleaded their groundbreaking case for urgent climate action (opens in a new tab) in front of a Montana court this week. While not the only legal attempt of its kind — and certainly not anticipated to be the last — it was the first constitutional climate case to successfully go to trial in the United States. And it signals a renewed urgency among some activists to have the courts weigh in before it's too late. The case, Held v. Montana, has been brought before the court by 16 young residents and Our Children's Trust (opens in a new tab), a nonprofit public interest law firm that represents youth in climate litigation. With the help of the organization, the Montana plaintiffs argued that the state has an obligation "to protect the air, waters, wildlife and their public lands that are threatened by drought, heat, fires, smoke, and floods," as well as the harm caused by fossil fuel extraction. SEE ALSO: Climate activist Greta Thunberg marks last school strike with call for continued protests Other cases in the United States have tried and failed to establish this kind of accountability. In 2015, a group of 21 adolescents and young adults sued the federal government (opens in a new tab) for infringing upon their constitutional right to a stable future, citing the government's insistence on supporting "an energy system that emits potent heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere." In 2020, the case, known as Juliana v. United States and also led by Our Children's Trust, was officially thrown out , with the court deciding it wasn't in its capacity to address such a widespread problem as climate change. But in 2023, a U.S. District Court Judge granted the group a motion for leave to file a Second Amended Complaint, giving the case a potential path forward(opens in a new…