Professor Martha Davis Co-Authors Amicus Brief in New Mexico Environmental Protection Case

12.14.2024 – Professor Martha Davis, an internationally recognized expert in human rights, is of counsel on an amicus brief filed today in a New Mexico case, Atencio v. State, in which plaintiffs assert that state of New Mexico and other state defendants violated the plaintiffs’ rights under the New Mexico Constitution by continuing to authorize and promote oil and gas production without assuring protection of the environment. The plaintiffs are frontline’ community members (i.e., people living near oil and gas production sites), Indigenous peoples, youth and environmental organizations. Davis co-authored the brief in her capacity as faculty co-director of Northeastern Law’s Center for Global Law and Justice. Students Owen Doherty ’25 and Eleazar Loyo ’25 provided pro bono research assistance on the brief.

“Our amicus brief surveys the justiciability of environmental claims and other positive rights under state constitutions, and argues that New Mexico’s ‘pollution control amendment’ should be deemed to create enforceable rights,” said Davis. “Work on climate issues is one of the Center’s core programs, and our amicus brief puts the New Mexico state constitutional provision in national and international context.”