Founder of Our Children’s Trust on what the end of Juliana v. US means for youth and climate policy

Founder of Our Children’s Trust on what the end of Juliana v. US means for youth and climate policy

Attorney Julia Olson founded the nonprofit public interest law firm Our Children’s Trust in 2010 in Eugene. Five years later, she filed a lawsuit on behalf of Kelsey Juliana and 20 other youth activists in Oregon and elsewhere. Their contention was simple on its face: youth have a right to a stable climate, just as they have a right to clean water and clean air. It used the public trust doctrine in a novel way at the time. Since the suit was fil…

Amending the Constitution Is Not a Children’s Game

By John A. Charles, Jr. A decade ago, 21 youth plaintiffs in Oregon filed a lawsuit asserting that the government had violated their due process rights of life, liberty, and property by encouraging and permitting the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels such as oil and gas. The plaintiffs were represented by Our Children’s Trust, a litigation firm based in Eugene. The case, known as Juliana v. United States, was dismissed by the Ninth Circuit Court o…