A group of attorneys using children and young adults as plaintiffs plans to file legal actions in every state and the District of Columbia on Wednesday in an effort to force government intervention on climate change. The courtroom ploy is backed by high-profile activists looking for a legal soft spot to advance a cause that has stumbled in the face of stiff congressional opposition and a skeptical U.S. Supreme Court. The goal is to have the atmosphere declared for the first time as a "public trust" deserving special protection. That's a concept previously used to clean up polluted rivers and coastlines, although legal experts said they were uncertain it could be applied successfully to climate change. Wednesday's spate of lawsuits, led by an Oregon-based nonprofit called Our Children's Trust, are based on "common law" theories, not statutes adopted by state or federal lawmakers...
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1 comment:
This could become seriously expensive political activism just like the Endangered Species Act and the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. It was the use of grade school kids, kind of like human shields, that scared the politicians into designating ranch owned or feral horses as a public trust labeled wild horses or burros.
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