April 23, 2026: Court Dismissed Youth-Led Climate Case

The Circuit Court in Dane County, Wisconsin, granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case, stating that the plaintiffs’ claims raise a nonjusticiable political question. The court says that decisions about environmental policy are constitutionally committed to the legislative and executive branches, not the courts.  

However, the court expressed sympathy for the youth plaintiffs and accepted their allegations of harm as true, including their climate change and air pollution injuries caused by the challenged laws that perpetuate a fossil fuel energy system in Wisconsin. But the court still concluded it could not decide whether those laws are unconstitutional. 

Plaintiffs are disappointed by the decision and feel it was wrongly decided. The legislature cannot pass laws that violate constitutional rights, and when the political branches are violating children’s constitutional rights, as the plaintiffs argue they are doing here, the courts have a duty to protect them. Energy laws are not above the court’s reach any more than laws affecting public health, education, or any other fundamental interest. 

Read our press release here.