A rogue judge has ruled that the state of Montana violated the state constitution when it approved fossil fuel projects without taking climate change into account. Montana is one of the most energy-rich places on the planet. That didn’t stop State judge Kathy Seeley from ruling in favor of 16 young Montanan, saying they’d been injured by having their right to “a clean and healthful environment” violated. She railed against “Government policies that slow down and inhibit the transition to renewables.”

Our Children’s Trust, the environmental group behind the Montana lawsuit, has filed dozens of similar lawsuits in other states. Its executive director, Julia Olson, predicted: “More rulings like this will certainly come.”

Judge Seeley’s nutty ruling should be overturned on appeal, but the danger is it is likely to entice far more of these crazy anti-development lawsuits – especially in blue states with environmental rights embedded in their constitutions. Those states are likely to include Hawaii, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Illinois.

You heard it here first.