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Youth Climate Case Against U.S. Government Should Go To Trial

January 7, 2024 Climate in the Courts. , , ,
​A federal trial court judge in Oregon has rejected the US government’s latest attempts to quash the constitutional climate case Juliana v. United States, once again allowing the youth-led civil rights lawsuit to advance to trial. In a ruling issued on December 29, 2023, US District Judge Ann Aiken denied the government defendants’ motions to dismiss and to further stall the litigation as well as their request to bring another pre-trail appeal. Aiken’s ruling also orders the parties to arrange a pre-trial conference to discuss next steps including scheduling a trial date. The case had been previously slated to start trial five years ago on October 29, 2018, but the government’s extraordinary and repeated obstruction tactics derailed the trial and ultimately resulted in a federal appeals court ordering the case be dismissed in January 2020.

The Quest To Make Big Oil Pay For Climate Change

January 3, 2024 Jake Bolster, New Lines Magazine. , , ,
Three years before the Marshall Fire, Boulder and San Miguel counties had filed a lawsuit seeking damages from the oil companies Exxon and Suncor by claiming much the same thing. Changes in the climate — driven, at least in part, by the burning of Exxon and Suncor’s fossil fuels — have harmed their citizens and damaged their infrastructure, economies and natural environment, entitling them to compensation from the oil companies for those damages, the two counties claim. Together, Boulder and San Miguel are part of a small but growing number of cities, states and counties seeking to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for damages allegedly caused by their emissions or for allegedly misleading consumers about their product’s impact on the environment.

2023 Has Been A Big Year For Climate Accountability In The Courts

December 26, 2023 Dana Drugmand, DeSmog. , ,
Climate litigation had a momentous year in 2023. Courts worldwide heard evidence and arguments at pivotal trials and hearings. Landmark rulings marked progress in holding governments to account for climate inaction or denial, and new climate cases continued to be filed. With climate lawsuits now totaling nearly 2,500 worldwide, it is clear that courts have become a critical venue for seeking climate justice and accountability. Here are some of this year’s highlights. In a groundbreaking ruling in August, Judge Kathy Seeley of the First Judicial District Court of Montana found in Held v. State of Montana that the state’s ongoing support for and promotion of fossil fuel development — including directing state regulators not to consider a project’s climate impacts during the permitting process — violated Montana’s constitutional guarantee of the right to a clean and healthful environment, which extends to a stable climate.

78 Palestine Solidarity Activists Face Charges For Civil Disobedience

December 24, 2023 People's Dispatch. , , , , , ,
78 Palestine solidarity activists are facing charges following a mass civil disobedience action staged on November 16, in which protesters shut down San Francisco’s Bay Bridge in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Over 150 demonstrators blocked the Bay Bridge on November 16, while US President Joe Biden was in San Francisco for the APEC Summit. Several activists blocked the bridge with cars, and, highlighting their commitment, proceeded to throw their keys into the San Francisco Bay. Protesters are facing charges ranging from unlawful public assembly, false imprisonment, refusing to comply with a peace officer, and refusing to disperse a riot and obstruction of a public street.

The Urgent Fight To Stop The Execution Of An Innocent Man

December 23, 2023 Victoria Valenzuela, Scheer Post. , , ,
Marcellus Williams, who has spent 24 years of his life on death row for a murder DNA evidence proves someone else committed, could have an execution date set as early as next month following Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s decision in June to lift his stay of execution and dissolve his innocence investigation. Williams, 54, was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1998 death of Lisha Gayle, a St. Louis Post Dispatch reporter, who was stabbed 16 times during a robbery in her home.

CIA Loses Motion To Dismiss Lawsuit Against It

December 22, 2023 Consortium News. , , , ,
Lead attorney Richard Roth of The Roth Law Firm, along with plaintiffs Margaret Ratner Kunstler, a civil rights lawyer, and media lawyer Deborah Hrbek, held a ZOOM press conference Friday, Dec. 22 at 1:00 pm EST to answer journalists’ questions regarding their lawsuit against the C.I.A. for allegedly violating their Fourth Amendment rights. Judge John G. Koeltl of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan rejected a C.I.A. motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by four American citizens alleging they were wrongfully spied on while visiting Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in an illicit scheme to seize the plaintiff’s electronic devices.

Federal Court To Decide If Atlanta Voters Could Have A Say On Cop City

December 22, 2023 Cody Bloomfield, Truthout. , , , , ,
A court case heard in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals on December 14, 2023, could have a decisive impact on the legal fight to finally put Cop City on the ballot. If successful, the citizen ballot initiative would put a question to voters about whether to revoke the lease of land to the Atlanta Police Foundation to build the massive militarized police training facility, which has seen grassroots resistance reach a fever pitch this year. In Atlanta, for a citizen ballot initiative to be voted on in a general election, petition gatherers must collect signatures equivalent to 15 percent of active registered Atlanta voters within 60 days.

Youth Climate Lawsuit Against Canadian Climate Policy Can Go To Trial

December 16, 2023 Dana Drugmand, DeSmog. , , , , ,
A federal appeals court in Canada breathed new life into a youth-led constitutional climate lawsuit against the Canadian government, allowing it to proceed towards trial on a narrower scope and partially reversing the trial court’s ruling that the entire case should be tossed. In its opinion issued on December 13, Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal determined that one part of the legal claims asserted in the case was viable and that a trial would help assess whether that claim violates the constitution. Initially filed in 2019 by 15 young Canadians, La Rose v. His Majesty the King alleges Canada’s policies and actions that perpetuate fossil fuels and worsen the climate crisis amount to violations of youths’ fundamental rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

That New Hunter Biden Indictment

December 14, 2023 Patrick Lawrence, Scheer Post. , , , ,
Before wading through the latest indictment of Hunter Biden, this one for nine counts of assorted tax violations, we must consider briefly the record of David Weiss, the special counsel who signed the 56–page document made public last Thursday. Only then can we read the grand jury findings unsealed last week for what they are and are not. David Weiss is the Justice Department attorney in Delaware who has run the DoJ’s lengthy (as in slow-walked) investigation into Hunter Biden’s alleged violations of tax and gun laws. Among much else, David Weiss appears to have connived with other Justice officials to cover up a Federal Bureau of Investigation finding that Hunter and President Biden accepted bribes of $5 million each from Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian energy company where Hunter sat on the board from April 2014 to April 2019.

Enslaved By Nonprofits: How NGOs Colonize Developing Countries

December 13, 2023 Kit Klarenberg, MintPress News. , , , ,
November 21 marked the 28th anniversary of the signing of the US-brokered Dayton Agreement, which brought an end to the proxy war in Bosnia after three years and eight months. It is an event few celebrate – although there was much cheering in Sarajevo two days later when Stuart Seldowitz, the man who led negotiations on Washington’s side, was arrested for subjecting Muslim Americans to vile verbal abuse. The war in Bosnia – encouraged, financed, armed, and prolonged at every step by the U.S. – tore apart a previously harmonious, inclusive and prosperous republic of Socialist Yugoslavia. In all, 100,000 died, with many more injured.

Charges Dropped On The Tampa Five

December 9, 2023 Fight Back! News. , , , , ,
The Tampa 5 are proud to announce a great victory: their misdemeanor and felony charges will be dropped! This victory was made possible by months of mobilizations of people across the state of Florida, and even across the entire country, in defense of the Tampa 5. It is because of the bravery of students and youth protesters coming out for diversity and for student protest, that these five members of Students for a Democratic Society protesters will not see a single day in prison. They have just agreed to a misdemeanor intervention program that will lead to the dismissal of their charges upon the fulfillment of various conditions such as 24 hours of community service.

The ‘Cop City’ Mass Arraignment Circus

December 8, 2023 Hannah Riley, Consortium News. , , , , ,
On November 6, I sat in a courtroom in downtown Atlanta as 57 people churned through arraignments on charges tied to a sweeping racketeering case. The case in question is as light on the evidence as it is clear in its aim: to suppress the movement to stop Cop City from being built in an Atlanta-area forest. The arraignment process was the first of what will likely be many surreal days in court as the state attempts a prosecution unprecedented in both size and scope. Being somewhat confused by the inner workings of our Byzantine court system on even the best days, I didn’t know what to expect from a mass arraignment of this many individuals.

Cops Arrest 667 Just Stop Oil Activists Since 30 October

December 3, 2023 The Canary. , , , ,
Just Stop Oil students and other supporters marched from New Scotland Yard in solidarity with political prisoners remanded for slow marching in recent weeks. They are calling for political prisoners being held for nonviolent climate protest to be freed, and for the climate criminals responsible for new oil and gas to be charged with genocide. At 12pm on Saturday 2 December, a crowd of around 80 Just Stop Oil supporters gathered at New Scotland Yard, where they heard testimonies from young political prisoners who have been imprisoned for demanding that the government take basic steps to protect the population by ending new oil and gas.

United Kingdom’s Rwanda Deportation Ruling Offers Assange Hope

November 27, 2023 Craig Murray, Consortium News. , , , ,
The judgment of the Supreme Court on the illegality of deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda was given massive publicity in connection with the sacking of Home Secretary Suella Braverman, but in fact it is a decision of much wider significance. It also has great relevance to the coming High Court hearing on Julian Assange, both in terms of the arguments, some of which are common to both cases, and the stance of the judges, some of whom are also common to both cases. Let me start with the point on which the Supreme Court decision turned – whether or not the court should independently determine whether Rwanda is a safe country, or whether the Home Secretary is entitled to make that decision without the possibility of judicial interference, provided correct procedures are followed.

Dozens Hold Sit-In To Demand Resignation Of SD State’s Attorney

November 25, 2023 NDN Collective. , , , ,
Rapid City, SD – Yesterday, the families of Nevaeh Brave Heart, Aiko Storm White Eagle, Kasey Arehart, and Kyle Whiting held a sit-in at state’s attorney Lara Roetzel’s office for five hours, calling for her resignation and for an independent investigation into the practices of the State’s Attorney office. The families and local community members mobilized this peaceful action to call attention to the state’s attorney’s track record of over prosecuting Native people while also failing to serve justice for Native people who have been murdered. To draw just one sharp comparison: the white man who killed Nevaeh Brave Heart in a hit-and-run and then washed and painted his vehicle to hide evidence was charged with a class one misdemeanor, while Native teenager Kasey Arehart was sentenced to 30 years in prison just for firing a gun, even though no one was hurt.
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