HELENA — “It’s hot out there today,” state Supreme Court Justice Jim Rice quipped to the attorneys arguing Held v. Montana’s climate-change case. “Don’t know if you noticed.”
Youth plaintiffs in the Held v. Montana climate case attend a press conference outside the Montana Supreme Court on July 10 after oral arguments before the state’s highest court.
When the 70-minute hearing ended on Wednesday, it was noticeable that the temperature outside Helena’s Mazurek Justice Building was 17 degrees hotter than average. The Horse Gulch fire east of the city was on a run from 600 acres to more than 10,000 acres in a day that also saw the plane crash that killed a firefighting pilot.
But inside the air-conditioned court chambers, Rice was wondering if the state government had a realistic way of responding to a changing climate. The 16 young plaintiffs led by Rikki Held of Broadus accused the state of deliberately disregarding scientific evidence showing that fossil fuel consumption harmed their lives and livelihoods, and violated their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment. Rice pointed out they weren’t challenging a specific polluter or project permit: “You seek a generic judgment?”
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