September 16, 2025: Day 1 Historic Hearing

For the first time in U.S. history, 22 young Americans in a constitutional climate case presented live testimony in federal court. The hearing began with opening statements from lead attorney Julia Olson. Then, youth plaintiffs Joseph Lee (CA), Jorja M. (MT), Avery McRae (OR), and Jeff K. (CA/MT) testified about asthma, wildfire smoke, flooding, forced evacuations, and the mental health toll of climate disasters.  

Expert witnesses included Dr. Steven Running (Nobel Prize-winning climate scientist), who explained how dismantling satellites and observatories blinds policymakers to rising CO₂ and confirmed the plaintiffs’ injuries are consistent with climate change; John Podesta (former Senior Advisor to the President on International Climate Policy), who testified that the executive orders dismantle federal climate work and require loyalty to President Trump instead of duty to the U.S. constitution; and Dr. Mark Jacobson (Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University), who showed that renewables can fully power the U.S. while fossil fuels increase deadly local pollution and weaken national energy security. 

Read the full press release here.  

Watch the livestreamed morning rally here.

Watch the livestreamed press scrum here.