In the same week large swaths of the US were under extreme heat warnings, Joe Biden’s Justice Department filed its most recent motion to dismiss a landmark climate case by arguing that nothing in the Constitution guarantees the right to a secure climate.
I mean, they’re right. Nothing in the constitution says anything about the climate.
In this case I don’t think “It’s not a constitutional right” means “so I guess we’re going to do nothing”. It’s just that some legal groundwork needs to happen.
I don’t think there is a constitutional right to not get hit by giant meteors either.
I think the need to peg action to constitutional rights is a very uniquely American thing. In most other countries a simple addition to the legislature might suffice, whereas here if it’s not in a constitution written many years before climate change became a popularly known thing, suddenly nothing can be done.
I mean, they’re right. Nothing in the constitution says anything about the climate.
In this case I don’t think “It’s not a constitutional right” means “so I guess we’re going to do nothing”. It’s just that some legal groundwork needs to happen.
Well, we have the bill of rights which let us gather, and I guess we can’t gather if the climate does not allow people to actually live
I don’t think there is a constitutional right to not get hit by giant meteors either.
I think the need to peg action to constitutional rights is a very uniquely American thing. In most other countries a simple addition to the legislature might suffice, whereas here if it’s not in a constitution written many years before climate change became a popularly known thing, suddenly nothing can be done.
Nothing can be done by the courts. The legislative branch can still pass laws, they just won’t.