The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a petition for certiorari in the case of Juliana v. United States, effectively ending the litigation that began in 2015. The plaintiffs sought judicial intervention to compel the government to adopt stricter measures addressing climate change. Initially, the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon agreed to consider the case.
The Justice Department filed a motion to dismiss and pursued an interlocutory appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which sent the case back to the district court with orders for dismissal. Despite this, an amended complaint was accepted by the district court, leading to another directive from the circuit court for dismissal. Following these decisions, the plaintiffs approached the Supreme Court with their petition.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson from the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division commented on the outcome: “For nearly a decade, lawyers for the plaintiffs in the Juliana case have tied up the United States in litigation, persisting even after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals twice instructed the case to be dismissed because the plaintiffs lack Article III standing,” he said. “The U.S. Supreme Court’s cert denial brings this long saga to a conclusion. Through ENRD’s work, the Justice Department is enforcing our nation’s environmental laws and safeguarding America’s air, water, and natural resources. Cases like Juliana distract from those enforcement efforts.”