Juliana v. United States

Juliana, et al. v. United States of America, et al. was a climate-related lawsuit filed in 2015 and dismissed in 2020. Filed by 21 youth plaintiffs against the United States and several executive branch officials. Filing their case in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, the plaintiffs, represented by the non-profit organization Our Children's Trust, include Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, the members of Martinez's organization Earth Guardians, and climatologist James Hansen as a "guardian for future generations". Some fossil fuel and industry groups initially intervened as defendants but later requested to be dropped following the 2016 presidential election, stating that the case would be well defended under the new administration.

The plaintiffs asserted that the government had knowingly violated their due process rights of life, liberty, and property, as well as the government's sovereign duty to protect public grounds, by encouraging and permitting the combustion of fossil fuels. They called for the government to offer “both declaratory and injunctive relief for their claim—specifically, a declaration of the federal government's fiduciary role in preserving the atmosphere and an injunction of its actions which contravene that role.” The case is an example of an area of environmental law referred to as "atmospheric trust litigation", a concept based on the public trust doctrine and international responsibility related to natural resources.

The Ninth Circuit dismissed the suit in January 2020 for lack of standing, upheld en banc in February 2021. The plaintiffs filed an amended complaint in an attempt to address standing. The amended suit was dismissed by the Ninth Circuit in May 2024, again over lack of standing. The Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear the case by March 2025.