Youth Take Trump Administration to Court Over Climate

Young Montanans sued their state government over an anti-climate policy, and won. Now they are taking on Trump.

Eva Lighthiser prepares to take the stand during a historic climate change trial in June 2023. She is now lead plaintiff in a new lawsuit challenging Trump’s pro-fossil fuel executive orders. Credit: Dana Drugmand

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For 19-year-old Eva Lighthiser, getting involved in climate activism has been an important antidote to her anxiety and feelings of deep uncertainty about the future in a world (literally) on fire. Growing up in Montana, she has experienced firsthand some of the consequences of an overheating planet, from wildfires that are burning more intensely and creating hazardous smoky skies to severe flooding and fish kills in the Yellowstone River that flows near her home in Livingston. In June 2022 a historic flood event on the river directly impacted her community. “I spent seven hours filling up sandbags to build up a wall against the levee which we were scared was going to burst,” Eva recalls. “It was an incredibly stressful and worrisome day because we just had no idea if the levee would hold, or if we would be completely underwater.”

The following year, June 2023, Eva sat in a packed courtroom in Helena – the state’s capital – as she and fifteen other young Montanans put their state government on trial over a policy explicitly prohibiting state regulators from considering climate change and greenhouse gas emissions when analyzing the environmental impacts of fossil fuel development or other projects. It was the first-ever climate trial of its kind in the US, and featured testimony from climate scientists and other experts as well as from the youth activists who had sued their state in a case called Held v. Montana.

“I really enjoyed the trial and watching it all unfold,” Eva told me. “I was incredibly nervous to testify. And once I did, I felt very validated.”

The youth won their case. The trial judge ruled that the state’s anti-climate policy violated the Montana constitution, which expressly grants the right to a clean and healthful environment. This environmental right encompasses the climate system, the judge found, and every additional ton of climate pollution authorized by the state contributes to ongoing harms to the youth plaintiffs. The state supreme court upheld the judgment on appeal.

“Being a part of Held, we really had our voices heard,” Eva said. “And now we’re facing a [federal] administration that is doing so much to undermine all the work that’s been done in the past on climate change.”

Eva is now the lead plaintiff in a brand-new youth constitutional climate lawsuit brought against the Trump administration. The case Lighthiser v. Trump, filed on May 29 in federal district court in Montana, alleges that the administration’s actions to “unleash” fossil fuels while undermining renewable energy and quashing climate science – which will undoubtedly worsen the climate emergency – violate young Americans’ Fifth Amendment rights to life and liberty under the US Constitution.

The lawsuit specifically challenges three executive orders signed by President Trump – “Unleashing American Energy,” which directs agencies to pause funds or cease support for green technologies like electric vehicles and mandates facilitating fossil fuel development; “Declaring a National Energy Emergency,” which is designed to turbocharge fossil fuels and excludes wind and solar energy; and “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry” which requires the government to boost the fading coal industry.

“We’re challenging those three executive orders, as well as actions the defendants are taking to implement those orders,” said Andrea Rodgers, deputy director for US strategy at Our Children’s Trust, a nonprofit law firm representing the youth plaintiffs. “The orders themselves contain certain directives, but the agencies are also relying on the orders to do things that will increase fossil fuel pollution, block renewable energy projects, and suppress climate science.”

Defendants include President Trump along with numerous federal agencies and cabinet members tasked with carrying out the president’s pro-fossil fuel, anti-climate agenda.

In addition to alleging Constitutional violations, the lawsuit argues that the Trump administration is exceeding its authority by attempting to override federal statutes such as the Clean Air Act and the Global Change Research Act of 1990, the latter of which requires the federal government to research global warming and prepare periodic climate science reports called National Climate Assessments. The Trump administration has cancelled contracts and fired all of the scientists working on the next assessment, essentially killing it without going through Congress. According to the lawsuit, that is just one of many examples of actions undertaken by the administration to undercut government science. Across the board, research grants are being cancelled and the federal workforce is being decimated.

That limits options for young Americans aspiring to careers in the civil service or in scientific research.

“We’re seeing an administration that is trying to suppress the views of many people and suppress the science, all so they can promote the fossil fuel industry,” Rodgers said. “I think these young people want to fight for their academic freedom and ability to study and work in these areas that they find meaningful.”

Eva will be attending Colorado College in the fall and is interested in environmental studies. When I asked her if she’s worried that her studies might be impacted by the anti-science policies of the Trump administration, she said it’s “definitely something that’s been on my mind.”

Taking on the Trump administration in a lawsuit like this is no small task, but it’s one she feels is necessary given the incredibly high stakes. “It feels absolutely crucial that I take action now,” she said. And Eva is not alone. Twenty-two young people have come together as plaintiffs in the case. Nearly half of them, including Eva, were plaintiffs in the Held v. Montana case. Some others have been plaintiffs in other youth climate cases, such as the landmark Juliana v. US lawsuit and cases brought against state governments in Hawaii and Florida. And then there are several plaintiffs who have never before sued their government.

One of these newcomers is 18-year-old Ripley, also from Livingston, Montana. Like Eva, she has turned to environmental activism as a way to counter her climate anxiety, and she also finds an escape in nature and recreating outdoors. But climate change is interfering with her ability to partake in outdoor activities. “It means not being able to go outside and do so many of things I love like hiking, backpacking, rafting, camping,” she said.

Ripley worries a lot about her future, knowing how the climate crisis is already causing damage and is projected to get a lot worse. “By the time I get to my parents’ age, to my grandparents’ age, am I going to really have a healthy Earth that I can live and thrive on? It’s extremely stressful,” she told me.

Both Ripley and Eva said that getting involved in the new lawsuit against the Trump administration seemed “like the next logical step.” Ripley told me she was incredibly inspired watching Eva and the other young Montanans take their state government to court, and win. “I went up to Helena and watched the testimonies,” Ripley said. “And it was very inspirational, because I realized the extent to which I can create change.”

“And it gives me hope that we can win this case as well, 100 percent,” Ripley added. She said this is the time to stand up and speak out about the climate crisis and to stand behind youth activists who are demanding that their rights and futures be protected.

“If you care about future generations, if you care about your children or grandchildren, or just the state of the world in general and the planet, you need to support the people who are fighting for the future of it,” she said. “We need all hands on deck.”