page_title: Juliana v. United States
section_title: Plaintiffs
hierarchical_section_title: Juliana v. United States / Involved parties / Plaintiffs
caption_attribution_description: English: Cropped video still of Xiuhtezcatl Martinez talking to camera in 2016
context_page_description: Juliana, et al. v. United States of America, et al. is a climate-related lawsuit filed in 2015 by 21 youth plaintiffs against the United States and several executive branch officials. The plaintiffs, represented by the non-profit organization Our Children's Trust, include Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, the members of Martinez's organization Earth Guardians, and climatologist James Hansen as a "guardian for future generations". Some fossil fuel and industry groups intervened as defendants, but were later dropped at their request following the 2016 presidential election.
  The lawsuit asserts that the United States government violated the plaintiffs' rights by encouraging and allowing activities relating to greenhouse gas emissions that significantly infringed upon their right to life and liberty. The case is an example of an area of environmental law referred to as "atmospheric trust litigation", a concept based on the public trust doctrine and international responsibility related to natural resources. While similar past lawsuits have been dismissed by U.S. courts, Juliana v. United States gained attention in 2016 when U.S.
context_section_description: The plaintiffs in the case are:
  Kelsey Cascadia Rose Juliana
  Xiuhtezcatl Martinez (through his guardian when he was a minor)
  Alex Loznak
  Jacob Lebel
  Zealand Bell (through his guardian)
  Avery McRae (through her guardian)
  Sahara Valentine (through her guardian)
  Kiran Oommen
  Tia Hatton
  Isaac Vergun (through his guardian)
  Miko Vergun (through her guardian)
  Hazel Van Ummersen (through her guardian)
  Sophie Kivlehan
  Jaime Lynn Butler (through her guardian)
  Journey Zephier (through his guardian)
  Vic Barrett
  Nathan Baring
  Aji Piper (through his guardian)
  Levi Draheim (through his guardian)
  Jayden Foytlin (through her guardian)
  Nick Venner (through his guardian)
  The organization Earth Guardians
  Future generations, represented by James Hansen
caption: One of the plaintiffs, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez
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