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Article

11 Dec 2017

Author:
Tina Bellon, Reuters (UK)

U.S. government calls for teens' climate change lawsuit to be halted

The U.S. government on Monday urged a federal appeals court to issue an order blocking a lawsuit over climate change brought by a group of Oregon teenagers, warning that allowing it to go forward could lead to a constitutional crisis.

...“According to the plaintiffs’ complaint virtually every U.S. citizen has the right to sue virtually any government agency,”... Allowing the litigation would distract the executive branch from performing its duties

...Filed in 2015 in federal court in Oregon, the lawsuit by 21 teenagers claims government officials and oil industry chief executives knew about the causes and effects of climate change but nevertheless carried on with policies that perpetuated it, violating the plaintiffs’ constitutional right to live in a habitable climate.

...The U.S. government requested and was granted a stay to allow it to ask the 9th Circuit for an extraordinary order, called a writ of mandamus, to block the trial from proceeding.

...The 9th Circuit judges on Monday questioned whether an extraordinary order was warranted... If we set the precedent on this kind of case, there’s no logical boundary to it,” said Judge Marsha Berzon