PLAINTIFFS’ NOTICE OF SUPPLEMENTAL AUTHORITY 1

JULIA A. OLSON (OR Bar 062230) 

julia@ourchildrenstrust.org

Our Children’s Trust

1216 Lincoln Street

Eugene, OR 97401

Tel: (415) 786-4825 

PHILIP L. GREGORY (pro hac vice)

pgregory@gregorylawgroup.com

Gregory Law Group

1250 Godetia Drive

Redwood City, CA 94062

Tel: (650) 278-2957

ANDREA K. RODGERS (OR Bar 041029)

andrea@ourchildrenstrust.org

Our Children’s Trust

3026 NW Esplanade

Seattle, WA 98117

Tel: (206) 696-2851

Attorneys for Plaintiffs 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF OREGON

KELSEY CASCADIA ROSE JULIANA; 

XIUHTEZCATL TONATIUH M., through his 

Guardian Tamara Roske-Martinez; et al.,

Plaintiffs,

v.

The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; et al., 

Defendants.

Case No.: 6:15-cv-01517-AA

PLAINTIFFS’ NOTICE OF

SUPPLEMENTAL AUTHORITY

Held v. Montana, No. CDV-2020-307, 

Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and 

Order (Mont. 1st Jud. Dist. Ct. Aug. 14, 

2023)

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PLAINTIFFS’ NOTICE OF SUPPLEMENTAL AUTHORITY 2

Plaintiffs hereby provide notice of supplemental authority of the decision from the 

Montana First Judicial District Court of Lewis and Clark County issued on August 14, 2023, Held 

v. Montana, No. CDV-2020-307, Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Order (Mont. 1st Jud. 

Dist. Ct. Aug. 14, 2023) (the “Held Order”), attached to this Notice as Attachment 1, which 

supports Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Motion to Dismiss, Doc. 549; Opposition to Motion to Stay, 

Doc. 554; Opposition to Motion to Certify for Interlocutory Appeal, Doc. 555; and Motion to Set 

Pretrial Conference, Doc. 543. In the Held Order, the First Judicial District Court declared state 

laws favoring fossil fuels and their implementation to be violative of the 16 Youth Plaintiffs’

fundamental right to a stable climate system that is part of their environmental life-support system, 

a right which is protected by the Montana State Constitution’s explicit rights to a clean and 

healthful environment, public trust resources, liberty, dignity, health, safety, and equal protection 

of the law. Held Order at 92-93, 101-102. The court held that the Youth Plaintiffs’ rights to equal 

protection, dignity, liberty, health and safety, and Public Trust, all hinged on whether Montana’s 

environment and climate was degraded. Id.

The reasoning, findings, and conclusions set forth in the Held Order are persuasive 

confirmation of the justiciability, claims, law, and facts Plaintiffs in the instant case have argued 

over the last eight years: youths’ climate injuries from fossil fuel policies and practices are 

provable at a manageable trial and are redressable by courts; judicial decisions in constitutional 

climate harm cases must be made based on cross-examined expert testimony and evidence 

presented at trial; and further delay will only intensify the harms suffered by Plaintiffs. 

Importantly, the 103-page Held Order, issued only two months after a 7-day trial, just over three 

years since the lawsuit was filed, which included two trips up to the Montana Supreme Court—

both times with remand to the trial court—is proof of the judicial economy of having a 

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constitutional climate case decided on the merits after trial rather than delayed for 8-years in 

repeated attempts at early appeals to circumvent a trial on standing and the merits. The Held Order 

flies in the face of the arguments of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) that a trial in Juliana

is a waste of judicial economy—their only reason for seeking a stay and interlocutory appeal, 

again, for the thirteenth time. 

First, the Held Order found the Plaintiffs there demonstrated redressability and met all 

requirements of standing. Held Order at 88:21-90:22. Importantly, the court clarified the 

importance of a declaratory judgment, stating its finding of redressability did not depend on any 

“psychological satisfaction,” but emerged concretely from the State Defendants’ ability to 

“alleviate the harmful environmental effects of . . . fossil fuel activities through the lawful exercise 

of their authority.” Id. at 88:22-25. Moreover, any “reduction in Montana’s GHG emissions that 

results from a declaration . . . would provide partial redress of Plaintiffs’ injuries because the 

amount of additional GHG emissions emitted into the climate system today . . . will impact the 

long-term severity of the heating and the severity of Plaintiffs’ injuries.” Id. at 89:10-15. “It is 

possible to affect future degradation to Montana’s environment and natural resources and injuries 

to these Plaintiffs.” Id. at 89:16-17. “This judgment will influence the State’s conduct by 

invalidating statutes prohibiting analysis and remedies based on GHG emissions and climate 

impacts, alleviating Youth Plaintiffs’ injuries and preventing further injury.” Id. at 101:1-4.

Second, the Held Order recognized the relevance and suitability of climate science to

judicial decision-making, id. at 17:18-46:11, citing the “overwhelming scientific consensus” of 

climate change and the detailed evidence developed on the record at trial to find Plaintiffs’ 

fundamental rights had been violated. See, e.g., id. at 19:4-7, 23:13-18, 25:5-7, 35:17-19, 38:4-7, 

72:11-17.

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Third, the Held Order echoed the importance of bringing the instant case to trial promptly 

to protect human lives, liberty, and property. As with federal lands, “Montana’s land contains a 

significant quantity of fossil fuels yet to be extracted,” indicating that continued government 

policies and practices aimed at developing fossil fuel resources would only “exacerbate 

anthropogenic climate change and cause further harms to Montana’s environment and its citizens, 

especially its youth.” Id. at 80:1-3, 89:6-7. Indeed, thanks to the policies and practices of the last 

three administrations, Obama, Trump, and now Biden, the United States is today the largest 

producer of oil and gas in the world.

1

At least one Federal Defendant, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), has 

publicly admitted redressability, in direct contradiction to DOJ’s position on their behalf in the

instant case, by stating that the climate advocacy efforts of young people in the courts are helping 

to secure action on climate change by governments and that the Held Order “sets a precedent for 

intergenerational accountability and environmental justice, ensuring that the decisions made today 

positively impact the well-being of tomorrow’s generations.”2 The evidence at trial in Juliana will 

prove that a declaration of unconstitutionality of the policies and practices of the Federal 

Defendants in carrying out the national fossil fuel energy system will have immediate and 

1 U.S. EIA, What countries are the top producers and consumers of oil?, 

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=709&t=6 (last visited Aug. 21, 2023); Visualizing the 

Scale of Global Fossil Fuel Production, https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/the-scale-of-fossilfuel-production/ (last visited Aug. 21, 2023); Our World in Data, Fossil Fuels, 

https://ourworldindata.org/fossil-fuels (last visited Aug. 21, 2023).

2 See Attachment 2, EPA Statement on Montana Court Ruling in Favor of Youth and their 

constitutional right to a healthful environment, https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epastatement-montana-court-ruling-favor-youth-and-their-constitutional-right, (last visited Aug. 21, 

2023).

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PLAINTIFFS’ NOTICE OF SUPPLEMENTAL AUTHORITY 5

substantial impact in alleviating Plaintiffs’ injuries, including admissions of the same by the

Federal Defendants themselves when asked under oath.

In sum, this Court should promptly deny the Federal Defendants’ endless attempts to 

forestall trial and set an immediate trial date.

DATED this 21st day of August, 2023.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Julia A. Olson________________

JULIA A. OLSON (OR Bar 062230)

julia@ourchildrenstrust.org

PHILIP L. GREGORY (pro hac vice)

pgregory@gregorylawgroup.com 

ANDREA K. RODGERS (OR Bar 041029)

andrea@ourchildrenstrust.org

Attorneys for Plaintiffs

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