Synopsis

Twenty-two youth plaintiffs from five U.S. states (Montana, Florida, Oregon, California, and Hawai'i) filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging a set of Executive Orders (EO’s) written to undo climate protections, reject climate science, and maximize fossil fuel production. The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare that the Executive Orders are unconstitutional. The plaintiffs are represented by Our Children's Trust and Public Justice. 

Why It Matters for Public Health

The dual harms of climate change and fossil fuel pollution are negatively impacting public health, with children and youth shouldering the greatest impacts over the course of their lifetimes. As a result of the EO’s challenged in this case, the plaintiffs are exposed to health harms that will, without intervention, impact them for the rest of their lives.  

These harms include exposure to particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and a variety of other pollutants created by the extraction, transportation, and combustion of fossil fuels resulting from the executive orders listed below under “Background”. Negative impacts to the plaintiffs’ health will further exacerbated by the effects of climate change, which will increase their exposure to harmful air pollutants and other environmental health hazards such as extreme heat, which are likewise amplified by the challenged EO’s. 

Background

The youth plaintiffs filed their complaint with the District Court of Montana in May 2025. The complaint challenged the following three EO’s, with plaintiffs seeking a declarative judgment that the EO’s are unconstitutional and a permanent injunction to block them from being implemented:  

• Executive Order 14154, “Unleashing American Energy” (Jan. 20, 2025) 

  • Directs federal agencies to explore new fossil fuel energy sources and production on Federal waters and lands.  

• Executive Order 14156, “Declaring a National Energy Emergency,” (Jan. 20, 2025) 

  • Declares a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act over the countries, “insufficient energy production, transportation, refining, and generation” and directs agencies “to facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation” of fossil fuels. 

• Executive Order 14261,  “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241,” (Apr. 8, 2025) 

  • Requires the U.S. treat coal as “essential to our national and economic security,” and directs federal agencies to promote coal usage by “removing regulatory barriers that undermine coal production, encouraging the utilization of coal to meet growing domestic energy demands, increasing American coal exports, and ensuring that Federal policy does not discriminate against coal production or coal-fired electricity generation.” 

Plaintiffs filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction on June 13th. Several States filed a motion to intervene, which was filed in July and granted on August 13th. The federal defendants filed a motion to dismiss on August 4th, which the court granted on October 15th, reasoning that the plaintiffs lacked standing. The plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal on October 20th, urging the Ninth Circuit to overturn the district court’s ruling and allowing the case to proceed on the merits. 

Litigation Status (OPEN)

On January 12, 2026 the plaintiffs filed their opening brief. In the days following, several amicus briefs from public health organizations, scientists, physicians, and other health professionals, emphasizing measurable health harms put forward by the administration's fossil fuel policies. The Public Health Law Center submitted an amicus brief alongside other public health organizations and scholars on January 26. 

Oral argument occurred on April 13th. On June 2, the upheld the district-court’s dismissal and denial of leave to amend. The memorandum designated as unpublished.

On August 10, the Ninth Circuit has denied rehearing en banc.