Judge rules in favor of Montana youths in landmark climate decision

August 14, 2023 12:37 PM

‘This is a monumental decision,’ said a lawyer for the young plaintiffs, and could influence how judges handle similar cases in other states [previously]
posted by brundlefly (13 comments total)

Even though this will be challenged and end up in the Supreme Court, one of the things I find promising is that both in this case and Juliana v. United States, the judges have ruled that the science is settled. In fact, the state in the Montana case didn't even bother to challenge it (though they were initially expected to). All the shenanigans will be around procedural issues.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 12:52 PM on August 14, 2023 [10 favorites]

I just came to MetaFilter to post this fantastic news, so thank you for posting this, brundlefly.

You can read Judge Kathy Seeley's order for yourself courtesy of the Western Environmental Law Center.

Such a great outcome. Massive gratitude to the young people who brought this suit and all the adults who served them so well.
posted by kristi at 1:12 PM on August 14, 2023 [16 favorites]

I was curious about Judge Seeley, and it appears that she was not appointed, but rather was elected by voters in 2008, then re-elected in 2014 and 2020.

I think Montana is often portrayed as a red state, but while the state has consistently voted Republican for president (every year from 1952-2020, except 1964 and 1992), they've elected Democrats as governors more often than Republicans in the past 60 years: Democrats 9 times, in 2016, 2012, 2008, 2004, 1984, 1980, 1976, 1972, and 1968; Republicans 5 times, in 2020, 2000, 1996, 1992, and 1988. (Or: Democrats from 1968-1984, then 2004-2016; Republicans from 1988-2000, and again in 2020.) There's also been strong support for Democrats representing Montana in the US Senate (by my count, 15 Democrat wins vs 5 Republican wins since 1964).

If my info is correct and Judge Seeley was, in fact, elected, it'll be good to know that in case anyone tries to spin this to me as the work of a liberal appointee. It's also worth remembering that Montana is not a pure-red monolith, but rather a land of contrasts.
posted by kristi at 1:35 PM on August 14, 2023 [5 favorites]

Even though this will be challenged and end up in the Supreme Court

I'm not sure that's true. It's a state law claim, based on the State constitution. I don't believe SCOTUS has jurisdiction over such claims, because they're not based on federal law or the federal constitution.
posted by suelac at 1:45 PM on August 14, 2023 [3 favorites]

I assume they were referring to the Montana Supreme Court.
posted by jedicus at 1:51 PM on August 14, 2023 [3 favorites]

Right then! I'm sure it will go to the state Supreme Court.
posted by suelac at 2:13 PM on August 14, 2023

Montana was more contrasty five years ago, but the last election gave the GOP a supermajority in the state legislature. Thus we ended up with drag show bans and restrictive abortion legislation (despite the public rejecting a right-wing abortion referendum that occured on the same ballot that elected the supermajority.

Both Congressmen are Republicans as are the governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general. They even tried to pass a law that ended election of Supreme Court justices and give it over to the governor, but that was thankfully a bridge too far.

So Jon Tester is the only high-level Democrat in the state, and there's a ton of outside money coming in to attack him in 2024. It's not a bright picture on the whole.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 3:01 PM on August 14, 2023 [5 favorites]

Does Metafilter have an equivalent of the "." we use for tragedies, except for positive things? Sometimes I don't really have anything to add to a discussion but I want to just put a "!" or something to indicate that I'm very happy about, as kristi aptly described it, "fantastic" news. We're so used to enshittification that even a small bit of deshittification feels almost astounding, and this definitely has the potential to be a landmark decision. Even if this specific decision is reversed on appeal, the idea of it is now out there in the wild. And I feel confident that young people -- who to an extent I think we olds don't fully appreciate, are terrified of the future of climate change -- will not let the idea die.
posted by xigxag at 3:30 PM on August 14, 2023 [4 favorites]

So glad to see this.

And note the age of those bringing suit. Bravo to the rising generation!
posted by doctornemo at 3:48 PM on August 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

Perkins cafeteria devotees around the nation in their millions balling up their remaining hate to fight fight! FIGHT1! the decadent coddled youth on this.

The kids are alright!
posted by riverlife at 4:03 PM on August 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

I vote for ‽
posted by Jacen at 4:14 PM on August 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

It’s also worth remembering that Montana is not a pure-red monolith, but rather a land of contrasts.

This is true most everywhere. To oversimplify, Trump does best with white people who don’t live in cities. Most states (NYT map) have either cities, areas with a lot of BIPOC folks, or both. This map, which shows population circles, makes the point better.
posted by box at 5:42 PM on August 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

‽
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:52 PM on August 14, 2023 [2 favorites]