The Children's Fundamental Rights to Life and a Stable Climate System resolution

A new congressional concurrent resolution (S.Con.Res.18 and H.Con.Res.44) was introduced on July 16, 2025, by Senator Merkley and Representatives Schakowsky, Jayapal, and Raskin. The resolution supports the principles underpinning Lighthiser v. Trump, a new federal constitutional climate lawsuit brought by 22 youth plaintiffs challenging the Trump administration’s anti-clean energy and anti-climate science Executive orders. Children and future generations, especially those that have borne the brunt of climate change, deserve a livable planet without being burdened by a lifetime of hardship.

The resolution calls on Congress to:

Support the youth climate movement and children on the frontlines of climate change - Black, brown, Indigenous, and low-income children;
express opposition to the unconstitutional executive orders and demand that the executive branch comply with congressional statutory mandates, reverse ongoing implementation of the orders, and restore climate science resources;
recognize that Congress and the Federal Government have a duty to constrain any government actions that harm young people and discount the lives of children; and
demand that all energy and climate laws enacted by Congress and practices by the executive branch be consistent with protecting children’s fundamental rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, including a right to a stable climate system, and put the U.S. on a trajectory consistent with reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide to less than 350 parts per million by 2100.