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.

  • soviettaters
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    11 months ago

    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.

    • CoderKat
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      10 months ago

      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.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        This is a legal proceeding and the constitution is the fundamental basis for legal precedence in the US.

        The government’s argument is not that this right cannot exist but that it is not presently defined.

        • ZombieTheZombieCat
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          10 months ago

          This is a legal proceeding and the constitution is the fundamental basis for legal precedence in the US.

          Someone should tell that to the supreme court.

          • SCB@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            While I very much disagree with many SCOTUS interpretations, many of the legitimate justices throughout the years have successfully espoused this policy

            The current Supreme Court being largely a cruel joke does not falsify this claim

    • JingJang@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      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).