U.S. Supreme Court Nominee Confirmation Hearings:
Our Children’s Trust’s Position and Questions for the Judicial Nominee on Protecting Children's Rights and Access to Justice
In a historic nomination, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson becomes the first Black woman to be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. Our Children’s Trust has prepared the following questions to explore Judge Jackson’s position on the protection of children’s rights and access to justice for the Senate Judiciary Committee to ask the nominee during confirmation hearings or to submit to the record to be answered by the nominee in writing.
OUR POSITION
Our Children’s Trust is a non-profit public interest law firm representing and supporting young people who have taken their governments to court to demand protection of their constitutional right to a safe climate. These youth plaintiffs include the 21 young Americans, of which eleven are Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth, in the landmark constitutional climate lawsuit, Juliana v. United States.
The American people need Supreme Court Justices who recognize the urgency of government action needed to respond to the climate emergency as well as the citizenry’s right of access to the judiciary when they are injured by the actions of their government. Our Children’s Trust is committed to upholding children’s unalienable rights to life and liberty. Citizens, including children, across our country have a stake in who fills the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy. The judge who fills Justice Breyer’s seat should be a bulwark of protection for children, of all races, genders, religions, cultures, and other identities, and ensure for “Our Posterity” a system of government that does not deny a politically powerless minority their personal security, safety, and a livable future. Children cannot vote. They have no voice in our electorate. The courts have a duty to serve as the constitutional protectors of our Nation’s youth.
QUESTIONS FOR THE NOMINEE
We respectfully request that members of the Senate Judiciary Committee ask Judge Jackson questions that fall under the following three categories:
Children’s Access to Article III Courts
Constitutional Rights of Equal Protection for Children
Posterity Clause and Being a Good Ancestor
We hope the nominee who is confirmed to fill Justice Breyer’s seat supports the First Amendment right to petition for redress, is willing to afford access to justice to children, and whether, in keeping with the Court’s historical duty to “say what the law is,” believes that declaratory relief suffices for the redressability prong of standing under Article III in cases against government actors. We hope the nominee for Supreme Court Justice supports the rights of children under the 5th and 14th Amendments and believes that children have protected status under the Constitution, as demonstrated in children’s rights cases such as Oyama v. California, Plyler v. Doe, Roper v. Simmons, and Brown v. Board of Education. In particular, during the confirmation hearings, we hope to learn about the nominee’s judicial philosophy on the Posterity Clause and the Public Trust Doctrine, and the Court’s role with respect to intergenerational justice afforded to future generations of Americans, which is vital to preserving our constitutional democracy.
Download our statement on the Supreme Court nomination process and the specific questions on protecting children’s rights and access to justice, which we urge the Senate Judiciary Committee to ask or submit to the nominee, here.