Joe Biden’s DOJ Is Claiming “There Is No Constitutional Right to a Stable Climate”
Joe Biden’s DOJ Is Claiming “There Is No Constitutional Right to a Stable Climate”
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.
They're right though. There is nothing in the US constitution that guarantees the right to a healthy environment.
Cool that it isn't stopping them from putting a lot of climate action in motion.
What a dumb article.
Not only is there nothing in the constitution to prevent them from adding to it, the forefathers urged us to do so, and created systems for exactly that reason. The forefathers weren't dummies, they were smart guys. That's why they created something that is supposed to be a living document.
We should do that! It's a great idea to add to and modify the document that shapes our rights.
I can think of three new amendments I'd want right away. But I can't sue the government on the basis of laws that don't exist.
I think the compromises they struck have put a lot of that wishful thinking out of reach.
They are also dead and thus very easy to speak in name of.
Just stop building politics around dead or nearly dead people. There are living ones to take care of.
While we're at it let's give everyone a right to world peace.
That filing came as President Joe Biden has refused repeated calls to declare a climate emergency, and as his administration backed a court case designed to accelerate the construction of a massive fossil gas pipeline, despite scientists’ climate warnings. Biden’s administration has also declared that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s scientific report about climate change “does not present sufficient cause” to halt a massive expansion of fossil fuel drilling.
Always fun to see liberals lie by omission. Look at all that "action". It surely is just a coincidence that the Biden admin keeps aggressively fighting against climate change lawsuits in court.
"Always fun to see liberals lie by omission."
Always fun to see Lemmy comment sections get filled with more of this toxic crap.
That's what defendants do!
The rules in the Constitution are only relevant so far as they are within the ability of the government to provide. Outlawing slavery, the right to free speech, the right to vote, these can all be provided and protected by the government. The global climate can only be protected by ensuing that the rest of the world does not ruin the climate, in other words, the US would have to invade any country that endangers the climate for is citizens to ensure that right. This is why the Constitution does not provide he right to travel anywhere outside of US borders either.
The Constitution's failure to provide protections for travel between countries does not preclude a right to travel internationally. Rather, the Constitution provides explicit protections for travel between states. While the Supreme Court has ruled that the government may reasonably restrict international travel, the position remains somewhat controversial among scholars and still requires due process of law.
Similarly, the Constitution is not limited to the rights a government can provide. Indeed, many of the rights enumerated restrict government action. For example, the right to free expression is, at its core, the right to be free of government interference with speech. The right to have soldiers not quartered in one's home is a mandate that the government NOT do something.
A right to a secure climate might seem silly because it's something that the government cannot provide in its entirety, but a Constitutional right to an inhabitable environment would not necessarily require extraterritorial action. If the right were understood to cover only those actions and inactions that fell within the United States' sovereign power, then it would only obligate the government to act within the scope of its power.
the US would have to invade any country that endangers the climate for is citizens to ensure that right.
Well, that depends on what we think about climate change. If we think the climat change will destroy the humanity then this seems to be justifiable.
The US subsidizes the world's demand for military and protection as well as the world's healthcare. There's no excuse, we could have this world fully renewable if we had the will to do so.
this is irrelevant. this isn't about the US, this is about how the constitution works.
The Constitution also explicitly states that we have rights not enumerated in the Constitution.
That's true I always forget about that.
I find penumbral reasoning compelling in its own right.
But the Ninth Amendment is express:
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
The difference here is that unenumerated rights can be added at a future date, and this right has not been added.
Unenumerated rights can become enumerated rights if they are added to the constitution. There is certainty surrounding enumerated rights, while unenumerated rights are uncertain.
There isn't. That doesn't mean that this isn't a noble cause, but come on. There's no point in using the Constitution as the deciding factor of all that is good.
Americans are utterly obsessed with their constitution. They treat it like a holy book, despite (and perhaps sometimes because of) the fact that it's pretty much impossible to convince enough people to change these days, despite it also needing changes.
Thanks.
I was going to say, that it's not an environmental document and climate science was barely a thing when it was written. (meteorology was but not climate science as we know it).
Good to know that nobody will be held accountable for the end of the world.
Can you, for one moment, stop thinking about the earth and instead focus on the profits and shareholder interests? Dont be selfish
It won't matter if the world is ending. In the mean time since you're also contributing, start the blame there.
Yeah, that's the spirit! Let's all just blame ourselves for being born into a system which actively prevents you from choosing not to be a part of it! ^/s
But seriously though, individual action can be a little helpful and it's worth doing the parts that aren't an excessive cognitive load, but it's much, much more effective to have government regulate environmental action. Choosing to compost your vegetable scraps is helpful, but it pales in comparison to the industrial yard 30 miles over burning guzzoline by the kiloliter like they're in some sort of Mad Maxian hellscape.
I mean...it doesn't
Who thinks it does? What a silly idea
Correct, the constitution does not literally call out the right to a stable climate, however it's kinda hard to make good on any other constitutional right if populations being culled by extreme heat becomes the new worldwide norm.
Yes, we should take aggressive action to eliminate every trace of fossil fuels currently in use.
But also, bringing legal action to enforce a law that pretty plainly doesn't exist doesn't do anyone any good.
Cool, but don't try to make the legal argument that the Constitution says so and so when it doesn't. It's a giant waste of time and money.
it’s kinda hard to make good on any other constitutional right if populations being culled by extreme heat
That also does not exist in the US (yet), nor will it even when we pass the 1.5°C target, nor when we keep going beyond it and pass major climate tipping points causing irreversible changes. This kind of hyperbole doesn’t help, when we have a real, serious issue
Time for a new amendment then, bitches. Let's fucking do this.
Your meds schizo, take them
Maybe pick your fights elsewhere? What, do you like the idea of you and everyone you know boiling alive? Gettin' paid by Joe Biden to go to bat with the stupidest sentence ever?This is such a needlessly jaded and edgy comment, why did you even bother posting that? This isn't 4chan lol
Breaking news: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness does not include a right to a liveable environment.
(yes I know this is from the DOI, not the constitution, and has no legal force)
How can one live without a stable environment?
Apparently, the right to life and the right to keep living are two very different things to the justice department.
Then again, why are we surprised when a life spent is solitary confinement does not meet the definition of "cruel and unusual punishment" for the same group.
Uncomfortably.
That's the Declaration.
Apparently right to life is not right to live
To be fair, it's the other side that has all that "right to life" hypocrisy.
Yeah, that's true. Man, our options kinda suck.
Pack it in folks, we don't have the right to live. Constitution doesn't mean shit if there is no one around to read it.
What does the constitution day about computers and cars and genetic engineering?
AI robots, assault rifles.
The constitution gotta protect guns in case the king of England invades your F250 but heaven forbid you protect the environment.
If someone’s invading your guns have already failed.
Well, technically the Justice Department is correct. Which on the other hand should not imply that the government should just keep out of it.
But the climate change was mainly caused by people and corporations, so they are the ones to blame.
Which people? All people? Like yourself?
The Jacobin is such a rag lol.
Biden's done more for climate policy than every President before him combined, and the DOJ is no more "his" here than it is when it prosecutes Donald Trump.
Americans, legally, do not have a constitutional right to anything regarding the climate. This makes standing on climate policy difficult (but clearly not impossible, as the article itself notes) to prove.
This isn't some "gotcha"
I feel like this is worded to be a jab at JB when it really shouldn't be. Unfortunately it is true. At best they can say people have a right to not have the government subsidise the oil industry, mining operations and other things that are directly damaging, but they can't guarantee clean air.
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The Constitution defines the government and sets its limits. If you're looking for anything more than that, you're going to be disappointed.
Very progressive