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Our thoughts are with everyone affected by devastating flooding in Montana this week
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Update #1: A Montana Supreme Court Victory
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Montana denied two motions filed by the Attorney General of Montana: a writ of supervisory control and a related motion for stay. These motions were the State’s attempt to have the Montana Supreme Court take over control of the case from Judge Kathy Seeley, as well as stop the discovery process, just as numerous depositions of expert witnesses and plaintiffs were scheduled to begin.
However, in an order signed by the Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, the Montana Supreme Court ruled in the Youths’ favor and denied both the requested writ and the stay request, writing that the Attorney General’s request was “…at best, disingenuous” and explaining that “Supervisory control is an extraordinary remedy” used where a “gross injustice” is occurring. The Court rejected the State’s arguments and ruled that the State was attempting to “manufacture urgency or emergency factors to fulfill the necessary criteria to justify a writ of supervisory control.”
We were pleased to see this ruling, which will now - appropriately - keep the case on track for trial in the jurisdiction of the First Judicial District Court under Judge Kathy Seeley. Indeed, we are taking the first deposition of Defendants today. This should assure people in Montana, as well as everyone who supports protecting the rights of these young Montanans, that the rule of law is strong in the Big Sky State and that procedures built into the legal system there are working as intended to ward off frivolous motions designed to obstruct access to justice.
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The 16 youth plaintiffs in Held v. State of Montana
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Update #2: State Defendants Unprepared for Trial Seek Delay
The Attorney General for Montana had also previously filed a motion to modify the scheduling order, claiming that the State did not have “enough time to present” its case nor “conduct the number of depositions required for this case by the current discovery deadline of July 15, 2022.” Although we opposed the State’s efforts to delay and drag their heels to get ready for trial, on Wednesday of this week, Judge Seeley gave the State the additional time they said they needed to prepare for trial.
This new scheduling order, extending the State’s time to prepare, takes away any excuses they had that they wouldn’t be ready for trial. What this means for the youth is their trial, originally scheduled for February 6-17, 2023, will be pushed back by a couple of months. According to the Court’s new practice for scheduling trials, the trial date will be firmly set at our pre-trial scheduling conference in April 2023.
While the exact new dates for trial will be determined at scheduling conference in April, it is anticipated that trial in Held v. State of Montana will now begin in early summer 2023!
Nate Bellinger, co-counsel for the youth plaintiffs, responded to this decision: “The catastrophic flooding affecting some of our young clients right now in Montana is just one signal of the deep urgency of invoking constitutional protections for these children. We will take full advantage of the additional time Judge Seeley ordered to gather the evidence of every new climate event harming our clients, prepare our 12 world-renowned experts and other witnesses and visual exhibits for trial, support our plaintiffs with our trauma-informed care program, plan community events leading up to and at trial, and engage the world’s media so that people around the globe can watch Held v. State of Montana unfold.”
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“As Montanans celebrate the 50th anniversary of their constitution this month, these 16 youth plaintiffs will continue fighting to protect the vision of Montana’s 1972 constitutional delegates and voters when they looked to the future of their state and elected to enshrine their constitutional right to a ‘clean and healthful environment’”
- Nate Bellinger, Senior Litigation Attorney at Our Children’s Trust
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So What Does This All Mean?
The bottom line here is that our position is strong and the rule of law is holding in Montana: the Supreme Court of Montana rebuffed an attempt by the State defendants to usurp the ordinary and appropriate procedures of law and the trial judge granted an (albeit disappointing for us and our youth plaintiffs) extension of time to the defense who can no longer say they didn’t have enough time to prepare for trial. Both of these rulings were made in response to efforts by the State to delay this case, a typical defense tactic. However, Montana’s courts have held the line and are preserving the judicial process as this case continues to march steadily toward trial next year.
How You Can Help
Held v. State of Montana is one of four active U.S. state constitutional climate cases Our Children’s Trust is advancing to secure the legal right to a safe climate for youth plaintiffs from Virginia to Hawai‘i and from Montana to Utah, all in addition to youth-led legal action in Florida, our federal case Juliana v. United States, and global youth-led litigation around the world. While the minutiae of legal proceedings, such as those described above, can be frustrating and sometimes confounding, our work never stops or slows.
Funded entirely through private donations and grants, Our Children’s Trust stewards the generosity of our supporters by rigorously and simultaneously preparing for active cases, enlisting world-renowned experts at no cost to OCT, recruiting and educating public advocates, and tirelessly seeking out opportunities, domestically and abroad, to accelerate our mission to keep pace with the accelerating climate crisis. Simply put, when you donate to Our Children’s Trust, we put your dollars to work every day.
Each day our climate moves dangerously closer to an emergency tipping point from which we will never be able to return. If you have ever longed for a call to action to do something more, that time is now. Whether you’re a first-time donor, haven’t given for a while, or perhaps are interested in making a gift in honor of someone, please consider making a donation today and join us in our relentless pursuit of a durable constitutional solution to the climate crisis through the courts.
Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support of these 16 young Montanans and our ongoing efforts to secure climate justice for them in the courts of their state,
The Team at Our Children’s Trust
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