[Vision2020] "Our Children's Trust" Website: Re: LIGHTHISER V. TRUMP, 5-29-25

[Ted Moffett]

https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/lighthiser-v-trump
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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett

Content below from website above:

On May 29, 2025, Our Children’s Trust, in partnership with Gregory Law
Group, McGarvey Law, and Public Justice, filed *Lighthiser v. Trump*, on
behalf of 22 youth from Montana, Oregon, Hawai‘i, California, and Florida,
asserting their constitutional rights to life, health, and safety. This
youth-led constitutional rights lawsuit challenges the Trump
administration’s “unleashing” fossil fuels, anti-clean energy and
anti-climate science Executive Orders, which exacerbate the climate crisis
and worsen the youth plaintiffs’ climate and health injuries.

Defendants include U.S. President Donald Trump, Executive Office of the
President, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Energy (DOE),
Department of Transportation (DOT), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE),
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Department of
Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the United States
of America.

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PROTECTING YOUTH’S CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

>From day one, President Donald Trump and his administration have imposed
their denial of well-established climate science on governmental and
private institutions at the cost of young people’s lives. Defendants have
not only prioritized fossil fuels over renewable energy sources,
intentionally ignoring the devastating consequences fossil fuel energy has
on the climate, but are also deleting research, data, and education on
climate change, impairing young people from accessing the very resources
they need to protect their lives and futures by tackling the climate crisis
they are inheriting.

This case presents a direct constitutional challenge to the "Unleash Fossil
Fuels" directive issued via a set of executive orders by President Trump.
Below are the executive orders the youth plaintiffs are challenging in
their lawsuit.
Executive Order 14154: Unleashing American Energy

Directs the executive branch to “unleash” America’s fossil fuel energy
development and stymy the growth of climate change solutions like EVs. By
prioritizing oil, gas, and coal over clean and renewable energy, like wind
and solar, the order is set to increase planet-heating emissions, which
ignores scientific warnings, puts children’s futures at risk, and trades
children’s long-term health and climate stability for short-term fossil
fuel interests.
Executive Order 14156: Declaring a National Energy Emergency

Directs federal agencies to invoke emergency powers to accelerate the
identification, leasing, production, and transportation of domestic crude
oil, gas and coal, and related infrastructure. The United States is not
facing an energy emergency; it’s facing a climate emergency. This supposed
emergency will only fast-track harmful and polluting fossil fuel projects
such as drilling rigs, power plants, and pipelines.
Executive Order 14261: Reinvigorating America's Beautiful Clean Coal
Industry

Aims to revitalize the U.S. coal industry by designating coal as a
“mineral” under federal policy, thereby granting it priority status for
extraction and development on public lands. The order directs federal
agencies to lift regulatory barriers and expedite coal leasing while also
seeking to roll back environmental policies that discourage coal
production.
Deleting Critical Climate Science from Federal Websites

The Trump administration has systematically removed critical climate
science information from federal websites, including those of the EPA,
NOAA, and FEMA, erasing or obscuring data on climate risks, environmental
justice, and public health impacts. This censorship has denied young people
access to life-saving information, hampering informed decision-making and
undermining efforts to address climate change effectively.

Trump’s executive orders are not policy preferences—they are constitutional
violations that directly harm the lives, health, and safety of American
youth. The youth plaintiffs’ three core legal claims are:

   -

   Right to Life (Fifth Amendment): These executive orders increase climate
   pollution and endanger young people’s right to Life and Liberty.


   -

   Executive Overreach (Ultra Vires Action): The President has no
   constitutional or statutory authority to override laws like the Clean Air
   Act or invoke emergency powers to expand fossil fuel development in ways
   that endanger children’s lives


   -

   Government-Inflicted Harm (Stated-Created Danger Doctrine): Plaintiffs
   are challenging the government’s direct role in creating and escalating
   harm by intentionally increasing fossil fuel pollution, suppressing climate
   science, and blocking solutions to the climate crisis. Under the
   state-created danger doctrine, the government has a duty to protect
   individuals from harm when it creates or exacerbates a known danger.

The President cannot strip any person of their fundamental rights to life,
liberty, or property without due process of law. For the youth plaintiffs,
the right to life means more than mere survival—it encompasses the ability
to grow up healthy, pursue happiness, and live freely. These are the very
ideals our nation’s founders enshrined. But such rights are impossible
without a stable climate. A livable planet is the foundation upon which all
other freedoms stand.
Exacerbating the Climate Crisis and Harming Youth

Every ton of CO₂ emitted fuels global heating, exposing youth to
intensifying harms from extreme heat and deadly wildfires to toxic air,
violent storms, dangerous floods, and mental health crises. Experts have
found that the implementation of the unlawful executive orders “Unleash
Fossil Fuels” directive will accelerate air pollution and increase loss of
life across the nation. Children are especially vulnerable to the
consequences of climate change as it endangers their physical and mental
health, disrupts family and cultural bonds, and deepens economic hardship.

The youth plaintiffs who are students, ranchers, scientists-in-training,
artists, and educators from Montana, Oregon, Hawai‘i, California, and
Florida are already living with the devastating impacts of the climate
crisis. They face rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, intensifying
wildfires, stronger hurricanes, toxic smoke, flooding, sea level rise, and
water shortages.

 These unlawful orders threaten to lock in irreversible damage for
generations to come, at a time when science shows we have a rapidly closing
window to secure a sustainable and livable future.
What the Youth Plaintiffs are Asking For:

The courts must stop these illegal orders before it’s too late. The youth
plaintiffs are asking the court to:

   -

   Declare the executive orders unconstitutional


   -

   Block their implementation and future enforcement


   -

   Protect the rights of youth to live, speak, and thrive with healthy air
   in a stable climate


   -

   Act as a judicial check on the unconstitutional actions of the executive
   branch

This case has the power to shift our national energy paradigm from one
rooted in profit to one that protects children’s lives and futures. If the
youth plaintiffs win, the unlawful fossil fuel expansion orders will be
halted, and the Constitution will be reaffirmed as a vital tool for climate
protection.

The court will send a resounding message: no president has the authority to
sacrifice the health and safety of young people to serve corporate
interests. This will mark a profound legal and cultural turning
point—seeing energy policy through the lens of justice, science, and human
rights, and setting a precedent that the lives of children must come before
the profits of polluters.
Current Status

Historic Hearing:

On September 16 & 17, 2025, *Lighthiser v. Trump* became the first
youth-led constitutional climate case to present live testimony in a
federal court. Youth shared stories of asthma, evacuations, wildfires, and
the mental health toll of climate disasters, while experts in science,
economics, energy, and health testified that Trump’s fossil fuel executive
orders endanger children and obstruct clean energy. Lead attorney Julia
Olson closed by urging the court to protect the youths’ constitutional
rights to life and liberty.

Next, the court will rule on the plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary
injunction and the defendants’ and intervenors' motions to dismiss. There
is no timeline imposed by the Federal Rules on the District Court to rule
on these matters.

Use our toolkit
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GqP3T-C0Wm3mSk9u4msgaF3W3Wjd6130WLBubjD5OZU/edit?usp=sharing>
to spread the word about the hearing.
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