Youth Climate Warriors

Wildland fire

Fresh off 2023's historic court decision in Montana, twenty-two plaintiffs aged 7 to 25 have filed suit against the Trump administration to challenge executive actions, whether intended to do so or not, will worsen the climate crisis. Ten of the young plaintiffs were part of the landmark Held v. Montana case in which the state of Montana was found in violation of its citizens' constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment by exempting fossil fuel projects from environmental review.

Lead plaintiff, Eva Lighthiser, is a 19-year-old from Livingston, Montana. She and her co-plaintiffs are asking a federal court to invalidate Trump's executive orders that suppress climate science and stall transition to renewable energy sources. Emphasizing the worsening climate crisis, Lighthiser said, "I'm not suing because I want to, I'm suing because I have to."

Representing the plaintiffs are attorneys from Our Children's Trust which spent nearly a decade fighting the federal government in the climate lawsuit Juliana v. United States. This piece in the Montana Free Press provides more details.