This socio-legal research project assesses the role of litigation in environmental justice activist movements, using the planned relocation of the General Iron metal recycling plant in Chicago as a case study. To understand the modern environmental justice landscape, I conducted semi-structured interviews with ten environmental justice activists, plaintiffs, and attorneys, several of whom were involved in the General Iron issue specifically, to answer the research questions (1) What is the role of litigation in today’s environmental justice battles, especially on the Southeast Side of Chicago? and (2) What legal strategies are recommended by both the track record of environmental justice litigation in the courts and the needs of environmental justice grassroots movements as reported by organizers? I then analyzed the resulting transcripts for recurring patterns and insights. My interviews with community organizers on Chicago’s Southeast Side indicated that the General Iron issue exemplifies a dynamic wherein litigation is one of several elements of a grassroots environmental justice campaign, each essential but none more so than the others. In interviewing attorneys and reviewing the legal literature, I find that environmental justice lawsuits can catalyze political victories and bring attention and credibility to activist movements, even when they do not succeed in the courts. Based on both a review of legal literature and recent jurisprudence and my interviews, I ultimately propose that in the General Iron issue and future environmental justice battles on the Southeast Side, the community could draw on youth organizers to launch a youth plaintiff-led lawsuit employing both state constitutional claims and more traditional environmental law. Consistent with activists’ current use of the courts, this lawsuit should be accompanied by a media campaign and efforts to lobby local and state politicians for policy changes. With appropriately specific claims and compelling plaintiffs, such an effort could set new precedents, breathe life into Illinois’ historically limited environmental rights amendment, and succeed where past youth plaintiff cases have failed.