Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law organization dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment.
Earthjustice fights, use the power of the law to preserve, protect, and promote a healthier, more sustainable world for everyone. Through far-reaching, big-impact litigation, they ensure that those who jeopardize the health of the planet are held accountable to the law.Earthjustice works tenaciously to preserve their natural heritage, safeguard the health, and promote a clean energy future.
Earthjustice has nine regional offices, an international program, and legislative policy and communications advocacy teams. Earthjustice hires the best and brightest who share their passion for justice and a healthy environment for all people.
As expert legal strategists, they take on the big environmental fights—high-stakes cases where they can have an enduring impact—and stick with them until they win.
High Stakes: Will something significant be lost or gained?
Lanmark Impact: Will a positive ruling set a powerful precedent for other cases and help set national policy across the country?
Strong Partnerships: Will the lawsuit help build strong, lasting partnerships with diverse local and/or national groups?
Unique Enterprise: Can Earthjustice leverage its expertise and resources to add value to a case in a unique way?
EarthJustice's roots go back to 1965, when the Sierra Club launched a campaign to protect Mineral King—a stunning valley at the southern tail of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. The valley’s isolation, harsh winters and steep, avalanche-prone slopes weren’t enough to deter Walt Disney from envisioning a massive ski resort decorated with parking lots, hotels, daisy chain chair lifts and two million yearly visitors.
Their founding attorneys had a very different vision. Years of political maneuverings had failed to halt the resort, so a group of visionary lawyers took a risk that changed environmental protection forever—they filed a lawsuit to protect Mineral King from development.
The case climbed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 1972 ruled in favor of Walt Disney. But this apparent defeat was actually a thrilling victory: a footnote in the majority opinion indicated that Mineral King’s lawyers could have demonstrated that private citizens who use the valley would have been irreparably harmed by the development.
And that’s exactly what they did. Earthjustice—known then as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund—filed suit again, in partnership with nine plaintiffs who visited Mineral King often and would be harmed by Disney’s development. This precedent-setting action secured standing to sue for private citizens, confirming the public’s right to fight for the environment in court.
