Ninth Circuit Rejects Youth Challenge to Trump Energy Executive Orders

Youth plaintiffs from Montana, Oregon, Hawaii, California and Florida, represented by the advocacy firm Our Children’s Trust, sued to invalidate three Trump executive orders they said would accelerate fossil-fuel emissions and harm children’s health. After a district judge in Missoula reluctantly dismissed the case on legal grounds, the plaintiffs sought a full-circuit review. In June, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the petition, noting that the request to roll back the orders and prevent agency enforcement was an unprecedented and unworkable demand.

The court’s decision leaves the constitutional challenge unanswered, despite scientific consensus on the link between carbon emissions and climate impacts. Montana, which previously lost a youth-led constitutional case, intervened and praised the ruling as a correct refusal to revisit the matter. The outcome underscores the difficulty of using courts to block federal energy policy.