Editors' Summary

A quickly growing number of commentators have suggested that the U.S. courts are already significant drivers of climate change policy, and that their role is likely to increase. In addition to fashioning law on their own, judicial decisions have significant implications for the work of the other branches of government. This Article provides a chronicling of every climate change case filed through December 31, 2009 (more than 130 such cases). It presents basic information about the cases, e.g., the types of cases, where they have been brought, the types of parties involved, and the outcomes. It also analyzes the data to identify trends that have emerged thus far. The Article, in short, presents an empirically based picture of what one New York Times headline describes as courts serving as "battlefields" in "climate fights."