Michael Gerrard on Held v. Montana
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 16 June 2023
⏱️ 30 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
On Monday, 16 young plaintiffs—between the ages of 5 and 22—walked into a packed courtroom in Helena, Montana, to sue their government. At issue is a 1972 amendment to the state constitution guaranteeing that the “state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.” 22-year-old Rikki Held and her co-plaintiffs allege that state officials violated that constitutional right. The case, Held v. Montana, now over a decade in the making, is truly historic—the first-ever constitutional climate lawsuit to reach trial in the United States.
Lawfare Managing Editor Tyler McBrien sat down with Michael Gerrard, founder and faculty director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at the Columbia Law School to talk through what’s at stake in this landmark case. They discussed the origins of the trial, its potential ripple effects, and where Held v. Montana sits in the landscape of climate change litigation around the world.
Other reading of interest:
This climate newsletter from Annie Crabill at The Economist
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Transcript
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| 0:29.0 | If they were to lose the case because of some technical issue in the law of Montana |
| 0:39.0 | that isn't more broadly applicable, it would be fairly modest. |
| 0:43.0 | It would be discouraging that they went through a little trial and didn't get anywhere, |
| 0:46.0 | but that would be, I think the extent of the damage. |
| 0:50.0 | If the judge were to say that she didn't believe the climate scientists, |
| 0:54.0 | that would be terrible. |
| 0:56.0 | It would be the first court anywhere to have done that, |
| 0:59.0 | and I don't think that that's likely. |
| 1:02.0 | I think if the plaintiffs were to lose, it would most likely be on the ground |
| 1:08.0 | of what's the role of the courts versus the state legislature and the executive in controlling climate change. |
| 1:16.0 | So it's possible that if the plaintiffs lose, it'll be on that basis, |
| 1:21.0 | and that would just be the latest of these cases to come out that way. |
| 1:25.0 | I'm Tyler McBrion, Managing Editor of Law Fair, |
| 1:28.0 | and this is the Law Fair Podcast, June 16, 2023. |
| 1:32.0 | On Monday, 16 young plaintiffs between the ages of five and 22, |
| 1:36.0 | walked into a packed courtroom in Helen Montana to sue their government. |
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