HELENA, Mont. — The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a federal district court’s dismissal of Lighthiser v. Trump, a climate-related lawsuit that Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen had intervened in last year to help defend the Trump administration’s energy policies.
The ruling marked the second court to side against the plaintiffs in the case, which Knudsen characterized as a politically motivated attempt to obstruct the administration’s pro-energy agenda under the guise of climate litigation.
Knudsen said his office was pleased with the outcome and stood by its decision to intervene, calling the appeals court ruling a validation of the position Montana had taken from the outset. He argued the case had never been a legitimate legal challenge but rather an effort to use the courts to advance a liberal climate agenda at the expense of Montana’s energy interests.
The Ninth Circuit’s decision closes out the case at the federal appellate level, delivering a significant legal victory for both the state of Montana and the Trump administration in their shared effort to resist what they have described as climate-driven overreach in the federal courts.