EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - Rallies are scheduled in Oregon and other states in support of a youth-led climate lawsuit that is being reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The events, including in Eugene, are planned for Monday, the Register-Guard reported .
That is when a trial in the case had been scheduled to begin. However, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily halted the proceedings to decide whether the case should move forward.
The 2015 lawsuit argues that government officials have known for more than 50 years that carbon pollution from fossil fuels was causing climate change and that policies on oil and gas deprive young people of life, liberty and property.
It was filed on behalf of people who currently range in age from 11 to 21. The federal government has tried to get the case dismissed.
In a petition filed with the Supreme Court, the government said the plaintiffs’ position “amounts to the astounding assertion that permitting or encouraging the combustion of fossil fuels violates the due-process clause of the Constitution and a single district court in a suit brought by a handful of plaintiffs may decree the end of the carbon-based features of the United States’ energy system, without regard to the statutory and regulatory framework Congress enacted to address such issues with broad public input.”
Attorneys for the plaintiffs said a pretrial review would deprive the court from seeing a full evidentiary record, interfere with the “orderly administration and resolution of cases” and “unnecessarily undermine the confidence of the American people in our nation’s justice system.”
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Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com
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