Friday, January 17, 2020

Dissenting Judge Staton in Lost Case 18-36082 Kelsey Rose Juliana v. USA (Children's Trust Climate Lawsuit Permission to Proceed to Trial Against USA Heard by Case Panel: MURGUIA, HURWITZ, STATON): "In these proceedings, the government accepts as fact that the United States has reached a tipping point crying out for a concerted response – yet presses ahead toward calamity. It is as if an asteroid were barreling toward Earth and the government decided to shut down our only defenses. Seeking to quash this suit, the government bluntly insists that it has the absolute and unreviewable power to destroy the nation.”

For background, click here.

The above quote is from Lee Van der Voo's Jan. 17, 2020 article in The Guardian.

Interesting this comes the same day CNN reporter Drew Kann wrote "Almost 6 in 10 Americans are either 'alarmed' or 'concerned' by global warming, marking what researchers say is a major shift in public perception of the issue."

It is also interesting Carolyn Kormann in The New Yorker wrote "The judges will take a few weeks to issue their decision," but it took over seven months.  What forces behind the scenes, if any, influenced this verdict?  What forces in land, sea, and sky will result from this verdict? What will future generations say about it?

John Kruzel, writing at The Hill, quoted Julia Olson, executive director and chief legal counsel for Our Children’s Trust, “The Juliana case is far from over. The Youth Plaintiffs will be asking the full court of the Ninth Circuit to review this decision and its catastrophic implications for our constitutional democracy."

In my opinion judges Murguia and Hurwitz, calling for "the electorate at large" to "change the composition of the political branches through the ballot box" (according to cnn.com reporter Dan Berman) completely ignored the science regarding rate of change, regardless of what they said to media, each other, or themselves in dead of night.

Taylor Perse, writing for eugeneweekly.com, added a quote from Staton's dissent "When the seas envelop our coastal cities, fires and droughts haunt our interiors, and storms ravage everything between, those remaining will ask: Why did so many do so little?"

Nicholas Kusnetz and David Hasemyer, writing for insideclimatenews.org, included a quote by Hurwitz complementing Staton's dissent, "Absent some action, the destabilizing climate will bury cities, spawn life-threatening natural disasters, and jeopardize critical food and water supplies."

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