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Children Can Now Sue The US Government Over Climate Change (vice.com)
"America's children have officially won the right to sue their government over global warming," reports Motherboard. An anonymous reader quotes their article:
Thursday, a lawsuit filed by 21 youth plaintiffs was ruled valid by U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken in Eugene, Oregon. A group of citizens, whose ages range from nine to twenty, charged President Obama, the fossil fuel industry, and other federal agencies with violating their constitutional rights by declining to take action against climate change. "Federal courts too often have been cautious and overly deferential in the arena of environmental law, and the world has suffered for it," wrote Judge Aiken in her ruling. [PDF]
Several groups -- including the U.S. government and the American Petroleum Institute -- had asked the judge to throw out the case, but the judge ruled instead that climate change would "threaten plaintiffs' fundamental constitutional rights to life and liberty," calling man-made climate change an "undisputed" fact. In a related story, Slashdot reader devinp shares a new study which suggests "Global changes in temperature due to human-induced climate change have already impacted every aspect of life on Earth from genes to entire ecosystems, with increasingly unpredictable consequences for humans."
Several groups -- including the U.S. government and the American Petroleum Institute -- had asked the judge to throw out the case, but the judge ruled instead that climate change would "threaten plaintiffs' fundamental constitutional rights to life and liberty," calling man-made climate change an "undisputed" fact. In a related story, Slashdot reader devinp shares a new study which suggests "Global changes in temperature due to human-induced climate change have already impacted every aspect of life on Earth from genes to entire ecosystems, with increasingly unpredictable consequences for humans."
I would think it would be hard for anyone to prove that they've been damaged by global warming.
Also, there is the legal principle of sovereign immunity: The King Can do No Wrong. If memory serves, victims of radiation from nuclear tests in Nevada sued the government, and lost based on that principle. If victims of nuclear fallout can't win the case, I can't imagine these people will.
But anyway the case should be an entertainment. Bring out the popcorn!
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
.....rights to life and liberty
Those are what the judge was referring to.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
I want to sue the government over the existence of a large number of things and people that they are allowing to threaten my life and happiness. Especially that guy that cut me off in traffic today. And the lack of fiber to my door. It's unfair and I want a bunch of money because my feelings are hurt. Maybe I'll go out and burn down somebody's business and smash some windows, since protesting is fashionable.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
That's an extremely broad interpretation of rights to life and liberty. What's next? Americans suing the US government for not having done enough research to find a cure for cancer?
calling man-made climate change an "undisputed" fact.
I wasn't aware that there was such a thing in empirical science as "undisputed."
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Well, it would certainly be interesting if they passed a law saying that the generation that voted for a bill gets to pay the resulting taxes.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Your parent also did not say a word about the CO2 produced to make goods in China for our country to consume. http://legal-planet.org/2016/0...
No, I'm referring safe spaces.
No, I'm referring 63 genders.
No, I'm referring to people being sick and tired of being called racist if they happen to disagree with Obama.
No, I'm referring to people being sick and tired of being called a homophobe if that don't actively support 100% everything that "the right" gay leaders support.
No, I'm referring to people being called a bigot and every other name in the book if they aren't completely caught up with the PC jargon du jour.
No, I'm referring Democrats paying mentally ill homeless people to start fights at Trump events.
No, I'm referring to yearly proclamations of global warming being irreversible in twenty years for the past forty years.
No, I'm referring that there hasn't been any global warming temperature changes in almost twenty years.
No, I'm referring to rioters who can't handle that their candidate lost an election.
No, I'm referring a business that tells his employees to quit if they voted for Trump.
No, I'm referring to Democrat leadership actively favoring a candidate.
No, I'm referring to the DNC chief being forced to step down because of that unethical behavior and then being immediately being hired by the winning candidate.
No, I'm referring to the next DNC chief caught colluding with journalists by passing on a debate question.
No, I'm referring that DBC lying about it and then having proof that Brazille passed multiple debate question to Hillary.
I can keep going on, but I'll stop.
This is why Trump won.
Food plants are now 15% more efficient than 30 years ago. Fewer hungry people! Widely known fact. Search youtube for "earth greening".
Food has never been a production issue, it has always been a distribution issue.
That's an extremely broad interpretation of rights to life and liberty. What's next? Americans suing the US government for not having done enough research to find a cure for cancer?
Indeed I would hope that if the US government put as little effort into cancer as they did into climate change that they would also get sued for this.
It sounds ridiculous, but this is not the first government to be sued by it's citizens for not doing enough about climate change https://www.theguardian.com/en...
But really I consider climate change secondary now. Climate change hasn't affected me and likely won't directly affect me. However fighting climate change has directly resulted in initiatives that have already made my life better. The air smells cleaner, there's less smog, driving behind cars no longer fills my cabin with horrid smelling fumes, the oil refinery near where I work doesn't smell anywhere near as bad as it used to, there's less diesel dust settling on everything... even to climate deniers I don't see any good reason why we shouldn't continue down this road of stemming pollution.