AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF IN OPPOSITION TO THE PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS

This amicus curiae brief, submitted by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide-US (ELAW), opposes a petition for a writ of mandamus in a case involving the right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life. The brief argues that the district court did not commit a clear legal error in recognizing this right, citing international law, treaties, and foreign and domestic jurisprudence to support the link between a stable climate and fundamental human rights.

• The brief argues that the district court's recognition of a fundamental right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life is not a clear legal error because such a system is a necessary precondition for exercising Fifth Amendment rights to life, liberty, and property.
• The United States and other nations have formally acknowledged the link between climate change and human rights through international agreements, including the 1972 Stockholm Declaration, the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the 2015 Paris Agreement.
• The United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have affirmed that climate change adversely impacts human rights and that states have an affirmative obligation to mitigate these impacts.
• International human rights bodies and courts, including those in Africa and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, interpret the right to life broadly, encompassing the protection of a dignified life and protection from predictable environmental disasters.
• Jurisprudence from various foreign courts supports the existence of a constitutional right to a healthy environment as linked to the right to life, with specific examples from Pakistan, the Netherlands, India, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Costa Rica.
• The brief notes a global trend toward constitutionalizing environmental rights, stating that over half of the world's nations include environmental references in their constitutions, and nearly half of U.S. state constitutions include environmental provisions.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2017). AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF IN OPPOSITION TO THE PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/OCT-amicus-brief-2017.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF IN OPPOSITION TO THE PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS. 2017. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/OCT-amicus-brief-2017.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF IN OPPOSITION TO THE PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS |date=5 September 2017 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/OCT-amicus-brief-2017.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2017amicus, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF IN OPPOSITION TO THE PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2017}, month = sep, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/OCT-amicus-brief-2017.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }