The fate of a children climate lawsuit in Oregon is in the hands of a Reagan-appointed federal judge who was accused of engaging in a range of inappropriate sexual conduct.
Accusations that 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski sexually harassed former staff members could place in limbo a lawsuit designed to force the government to take drastic actions against climate change. He is one of three judges on a panel that could allow a lower court to hear the case.
The court will hear arguments Monday over whether a lower court should be allowed to hear a child-led lawsuit that argues the federal government has not done enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Kozinski’s opinion on the matter could help determine the lawsuit’s future.
The Trump administration believes the judicial branch is not the appropriate branch to determine environmental policy questions about environmental policy. Kozinski, who was appointed to the court during the Reagan-ear, was one of three judges to temporarily halt the case in July. Former President Bill Clinton appointed the other two judges on the panel.
Six former clerks or staffers claim Kozinski “subjected them to a range of inappropriate sexual conduct or comments,” including allegedly forcing them to view pornography in his chambers, The Washington Post reported Friday. Kozinski dismissed the accusations.
“If this is all they are able to dredge up after 35 years, I am not too worried,” he told The Los Angeles Times shortly after WaPo’s report was published.
Environmentalists and regulators have been increasingly holding up children as reasons to fight global warming. Former President Barack Obama, for example, used his own daughter’s asthma attacks to personalize the climate debate. Environmental groups have jumped on this bandwagon and routinely claim global warming will make asthma and other respiratory illnesses much worse.
Activists filed the lawsuit two years ago in Oregon, where the Obama administration approved a liquefied natural gas terminal. The LNG terminal, among other projects, is being used by activists to highlight the “deliberate indifference” of the government when it comes to global warming.
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