Support Juliana v. US Youth Climate Rights Case

Re: Members of Congress File Friend of the Court Brief in SCOTUS Supporting Juliana v. US Youth Climate Rights Case

Dear friends of the Juliana 21,

On January 13, 2025, Senator Jeff Merkley and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky led 41 other members of Congress, including Senators Booker, Markey, Sanders, Van Hollen, Whitehouse, and Wyden and Representatives Jayapal, Huffman, Khanna, McGovern, Ocasio-Cortez, Raskin, and Stansbury, in filing an amicus brief (“friend of the court” brief) with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the 21 youth plaintiffs in Juliana v. United States, a landmark constitutional climate lawsuit.

PLEASE AMPLIFY your support for the Juliana youth climate leaders at SCOTUS and the amicus brief signed by members of Congress.

Here’s sample social media language: 

We are proud to stand w/ the 21 @youthvgov Juliana v. US plaintiffs along w/ 43 Congress members who joined a “friend of the court” brief urging SCOTUS to grant youth’s petition for certiorari, so their constitutional injuries can finally be heard! See bit.ly/amicus2025pr & bit.ly/cert-toolkit

Check out graphics and additional language in our toolkit.

Or please reshare OCT’s social media posts:

• Thank you Congress for cosigning the brief: Instagram; Bluesky; X
• Thank you Zero Hour and youth volunteers for joining Youth Hill Days: Instagram; Bluesky, X

In solidarity with the plaintiffs, young people from across the country—ranging from high school students to future pediatricians in medical school—joined Congressional Youth Hill Days, co-hosted by Our Children’s Trust and Zero Hour. They urged Congress to support the brief and implore the Supreme Court to grant the plaintiffs’ December 9, 2024 petition for writ of certiorari and reverse the Ninth Circuit’s decision, so plaintiffs can proceed to trial.

Filed nearly a decade ago, no other case in history has faced this level of government opposition. In their brief to the Supreme Court, lawmakers emphasized that all citizens, including young people, should have the right to access the courts to obtain relief and protect themselves from government policies that harm them. “[T]he federal courts have a vital role in declaring the scope of the petitioners’ Fifth Amendment rights and the government’s constitutional obligations as a trustee of the climate for America’s youth,” the lawmakers concluded.

Key Links:

• Read OCT’s press release. Read the amicus brief.
• Read press: 43 Lawmakers Back Youth in Climate Case Agst US Govt (Common Dreams)
• Read congressional press statements: 1/13 Merkley, 1/13 Schakowsky
• Check out congressional social media posts: 1/13 Schakowsky X, Schakowsky FB

Both the amicus brief and the historic December 18, 2024 win in Held v. Montana bring hope that the 21 youth plaintiffs will get their day in court to tell their stories and uphold their unalienable rights to life and liberty. For the first time in U.S. history, a state supreme court has ruled in favor of youth plaintiffs in a climate lawsuit, affirming the right to a clean and healthful environment and recognizing the right to a stable climate system, while enshrining climate science in a legal order. Youth-led climate lawsuits show that young people’s voices and legal action are not just symbolic—they hold governments accountable to their constitutional obligations and lead the way toward real climate solutions, as seen in both Navahine v. Hawaii Department of Transportation and Held v. Montana. Now, both states of Hawaii and Montana recognize that their citizens have climate rights protected by their state constitutions, reinforcing the critical role of the courts in addressing constitutional injuries by issuing a remedy, even if the issue is climate change. 

We look forward to continuing our work together!

Sincerely,
Liz Lee and the Our Children’s Trust team