LIGHTHISER V. TRUMP

On May 29, 2025, Our Children’s Trust, in partnership with Gregory Law Group, McGarvey Law, and Public Justice, filed Lighthiser v. Trump, on behalf of 22 youth from Montana, Oregon, Hawai‘i, California, and Florida, asserting their constitutional rights to life, health, and safety. This youth-led constitutional rights lawsuit challenges the Trump administration’s “unleashing” fossil fuels, anti-clean energy and anti-climate science Executive Orders, which exacerbate the climate crisis and worsen the youth plaintiffs’ climate and health injuries.  

Defendants include U.S. President Donald Trump, Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Transportation (DOT), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the United States of America.  

PROTECTING YOUTH’S CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

From day one, President Donald Trump and his administration have imposed their denial of well-established climate science on governmental and private institutions at the cost of young people’s lives. Defendants have not only prioritized fossil fuels over renewable energy sources, intentionally ignoring the devastating consequences fossil fuel energy has on the climate, but are also deleting research, data, and education on climate change, impairing young people from accessing the very resources they need to protect their lives and futures by tackling the climate crisis they are inheriting.  

This case presents a direct constitutional challenge to the "Unleash Fossil Fuels" directive issued via a set of executive orders by President Trump. Below are the executive orders the youth plaintiffs are challenging in their lawsuit.  

Executive Order 14154: Unleashing American Energy 

Directs the executive branch to “unleash” America’s fossil fuel energy development and stymy the growth of climate change solutions like EVs. By prioritizing oil, gas, and coal over clean and renewable energy, like wind and solar, the order is set to increase planet-heating emissions, which ignores scientific warnings, puts children’s futures at risk, and trades children’s long-term health and climate stability for short-term fossil fuel interests.  

Executive Order 14156: Declaring a National Energy Emergency 

Directs federal agencies to invoke emergency powers to accelerate the identification, leasing, production, and transportation of domestic crude oil, gas and coal, and related infrastructure. The United States is not facing an energy emergency; it’s facing a climate emergency. This supposed emergency will only fast-track harmful and polluting fossil fuel projects such as drilling rigs, power plants, and pipelines.  

Executive Order 14261: Reinvigorating America's Beautiful Clean Coal Industry 

Aims to revitalize the U.S. coal industry by designating coal as a “mineral” under federal policy, thereby granting it priority status for extraction and development on public lands. The order directs federal agencies to lift regulatory barriers and expedite coal leasing while also seeking to roll back environmental policies that discourage coal production. 

Deleting Critical Climate Science from Federal Websites 

The Trump administration has systematically removed critical climate science information from federal websites, including those of the EPA, NOAA, and FEMA, erasing or obscuring data on climate risks, environmental justice, and public health impacts. This censorship has denied young people access to life-saving information, hampering informed decision-making and undermining efforts to address climate change effectively. 

Trump’s executive orders are not policy preferences—they are constitutional violations that directly harm the lives, health, and safety of American youth. The youth plaintiffs’ three core legal claims are: 

• Right to Life (Fifth Amendment): These executive orders increase climate pollution and endanger young people’s right to Life and Liberty.

• Executive Overreach (Ultra Vires Action): The President has no constitutional or statutory authority to override laws like the Clean Air Act or invoke emergency powers to expand fossil fuel development in ways that endanger children’s lives 

• Government-Inflicted Harm (Stated-Created Danger Doctrine): Plaintiffs are challenging the government’s direct role in creating and escalating harm by intentionally increasing fossil fuel pollution, suppressing climate science, and blocking solutions to the climate crisis. Under the state-created danger doctrine, the government has a duty to protect individuals from harm when it creates or exacerbates a known danger.  

The President cannot strip any person of their fundamental rights to life, liberty, or property without due process of law. For the youth plaintiffs, the right to life means more than mere survival—it encompasses the ability to grow up healthy, pursue happiness, and live freely. These are the very ideals our nation’s founders enshrined. But such rights are impossible without a stable climate. A livable planet is the foundation upon which all other freedoms stand. 

Exacerbating the Climate Crisis and Harming Youth 

Every ton of CO₂ emitted fuels global heating, exposing youth to intensifying harms from extreme heat and deadly wildfires to toxic air, violent storms, dangerous floods, and mental health crises. Experts have found that the implementation of the unlawful executive orders “Unleash Fossil Fuels” directive will accelerate air pollution and increase loss of life across the nation. Children are especially vulnerable to the consequences of climate change as it endangers their physical and mental health, disrupts family and cultural bonds, and deepens economic hardship.  

The youth plaintiffs who are students, ranchers, scientists-in-training, artists, and educators from Montana, Oregon, Hawai‘i, California, and Florida are already living with the devastating impacts of the climate crisis. They face rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, intensifying wildfires, stronger hurricanes, toxic smoke, flooding, sea level rise, and water shortages. 

 These unlawful orders threaten to lock in irreversible damage for generations to come, at a time when science shows we have a rapidly closing window to secure a sustainable and livable future. 

What the Youth Plaintiffs are Asking For: 

The courts must stop these illegal orders before it’s too late. The youth plaintiffs are asking the court to: 

• Declare the executive orders unconstitutional 

• Block their implementation and future enforcement 

• Protect the rights of youth to live, speak, and thrive with healthy air in a stable climate

• Act as a judicial check on the unconstitutional actions of the executive branch 

This case has the power to shift our national energy paradigm from one rooted in profit to one that protects children’s lives and futures. If the youth plaintiffs win, the unlawful fossil fuel expansion orders will be halted, and the Constitution will be reaffirmed as a vital tool for climate protection.  

The court will send a resounding message: no president has the authority to sacrifice the health and safety of young people to serve corporate interests. This will mark a profound legal and cultural turning point—seeing energy policy through the lens of justice, science, and human rights, and setting a precedent that the lives of children must come before the profits of polluters. 

Current Status 

On May 29, 2025, the youth plaintiffs and their attorneys filed Lighthiser v. Trump at the US District Court, District of Montana. Plaintiffs, their lawyers, and their experts are working to move the case quickly forward and stop the unconstitutional EOs.