Climate Defense Project April 8, 2019 Contact: Kelsey Skaggs, (510) 883-3118; info@climatedefenseproject.org Today the Washington Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the conviction of climate activist Ken Ward and sent his case back to the lower court for a third trial because Ward was denied his Sixth Amendment right to present the necessity defense to a...
CDP Staff Attorney Alice Cherry moderated and participated in a panel on the climate necessity defense — along with Valve Turner Emily Johnston, law professor Lance Long, and Marla Marcum of the Climate Disobedience Center — at the 2019 Public Interest Environmental Law Conference, held at the University of Oregon School of Law. The title...
Check out CDP’s Kelsey Skaggs in conversation with podcast host, author, and legal scholar Grace Nosek. In this episode of Planet Potluck, a climate change-themed podcast, Kelsey and Grace discuss climate litigation, the fossil fuel industry, climate civil disobedience, and the community that can be found in resistance movements. Learn more about the podcast here.
CDP staff attorney Ted Hamilton and Stetson University College of Law professor Lance N. Long have published the first law review article on the climate necessity defense: The Climate Necessity Defense: Proof and Judicial Error in Climate Protest Cases. The article (which you can download directly by visiting the link) reviews the history of the...
CDP co-founders Kelsey Skaggs and Alice Cherry are featured in the upcoming film Necessity: Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance. Directed by Jan Haaken and Samantha Praus, this feature-length documentary tells the story of climate activists and attorneys as they work to resist pipelines carrying tar sands oil—the most polluting fuel on the planet—from Canada into the United...
CDP’s Executive Director Kelsey Skaggs took part in a panel at MIT Media Lab’s Disobedience Awards, which honored leaders of the #MeToo movement and other remarkable activists. The panel also featured honoree Deborah Swackhamer, Harvard Law School Professor and former Dean Martha Minow, and climate activists Emily Johnston and Annette Klapstein. Video of the panel...
CDP’s Kelsey Skaggs participated in a panel at the National Lawyers Guild’s annual #Law4thePeople Convention along with Michelle Cook, Kendra Pinto, and Jessica Parfait. Read about the panel, which discussed tactics and specific campaigns against fossil fuel corporations, in the December 2018 issue of Water Protector Legal Collective’s newsletter (coverage starts on page 5).
CDP staff attorneys Alice Cherry and Ted Hamilton spoke to law students at Harvard Law School’s Pro Bono week about the need for movement lawyers fighting for climate justice and their experience starting a non-profit out of law school. Alice and Ted emphasized the need to proactively use the legal system to advance activist goals...
Climate Defense Project October 9, 2018 Contact: Kelsey Skaggs, (510) 883-3118, info@climatedefenseproject.org The climate movement secured a major victory today after a judge dismissed all charges against the Valve Turner activists who shut down a tar sands pipeline in northern Minnesota nearly two years ago. The activists — who were represented by Lauren Regan of the Civil...
Three climate activists are going to trial on October 8 in Clearwater County, Minnesota for their courageous protest against the fossil fuel industry. They will have the opportunity to present one of the nation’s first climate necessity defenses — and Climate Defense Project needs your help to make this trial a success. We need to...
