On behalf of 122 law professors, CDP filed today a friend-of-court brief in support of George Taylor, a reverend and member of Veterans for Peace who was involved in a protest against the transport of crude oil by trains in downtown Spokane, WA. Mr. Taylor is appealing the reversal of a trial court ruling granting his...
Fort Benton, MT — Leonard Higgins and his attorneys are appealing his conviction for a protest that shut down the flow of Canadian tar sands oil into the United States. The appeal focuses on the court’s denial of Mr. Higgins’ right to present a complete defense. Prior to trial, in a violation of Mr. Higgins’ constitutional...
CDP Co-Founder and Staff Attorney Alice Cherry was recognized in the 2019 Straubel Leadership Awards.
The Washington Supreme Court has declined to review a ruling by the state’s Court of Appeals upholding the right of CDP client Ken Ward to present a necessity defense at trial. The Court of Appeals ruling, issued in April of this year, had overturned a previous decision by the trial court to bar all evidence...
A Lansing, Michigan prosecutor has unexpectedly dropped charges against 13 protesters who were poised to argue the climate necessity defense at a trial initially scheduled for this month.
The Straubel Foundation recently posted a short article about CDP’s work and the upcoming documentary film Necessity: Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance. Climate Defense Project Executive Director Kelsey Skaggs is one of the foundation’s fellows this year. You can follow the film on Facebook or sign up for updates on the Necessity website.
On Friday, April 26, CDP partnered with psychologist and documentary filmmaker Jan Haaken to host a screening of her film Necessity: Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance, in which CDP attorneys are interviewed. Held at the OK Stereo Loft in Oakland, the event featured a panel discussion with Haaken, CDP co-founder and attorney Alice Cherry, and...
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.
