The Trump administration's relentless attacks on the environment are meeting stiff resistance in the courtroom, thanks in part to the Sierra Club's badass team of environmental lawyers.

The legal team and its partners have repeatedly challenged the administration as it tries to weaken environmental regulations. Last October, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California struck down an attempt to suspend rules limiting methane pollution from oil and gas operations. In April, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit blocked an effort to delay an increase in penalties for automakers that fail to meet fuel-economy standards.

"In both cases, the Trump administration tried to just wave its hands and suspend those rules. In both cases, we sued and won," says Pat Gallagher, the director of the Club's Environmental Law Program.

Lawyers have also used the Freedom of Information Act to expose secrecy and corruption. Documents obtained through FOIA requests revealed that then–EPA director Scott Pruitt had habitually met with industry executives and lobbyists, and they were a major factor in his ultimate departure.

All the while, the legal team has promoted a transition away from fossil fuels by compelling public utility commissions to add more renewable energy and propelling states to accelerate transportation electrification. "We continue to push for the inevitability of clean energy at the state and local level," Gallagher says, "despite what's happening with Trump."

This article appeared in the September/October 2018 edition with the headline "Sue the Bastards."