Supreme Court to weigh whether oil companies can be forced to pay for climate damage
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companies → weigh → damage
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- Justice Samuel A. Alito, a reliable conservative, withdrew from the case, making a 4-4 tie vote possible.
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vote → click → case
In its new term, the court will also hear major cases on immigration and guns.
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court → hear → immigration
The Supreme Court will open its new term Monday by hearing arguments on whether the oil and gas industry may be forced to pay damages for the scorching heat waves, wildfires and droughts that are blamed on climate change.
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that → open → change
It’s a momentous question the justices have put off deciding for nearly a decade — and may do so again.
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justices → ’ → decade
California joined more than two dozen blue states and municipalities in 2023 when it sued the five largest oil companies, alleging “decades of deception” over the danger of a warming climate.
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it → join → climate
They have “privately known the truth for decades but have fed us lies and mistruths to further their record-breaking profits at the expense of our environment,” California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said.
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Bonta → know → environment
Such climate-change lawsuits were patterned after the mass claims against the tobacco and opioid industries.
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lawsuits → pattern → industries
Both were accused of concealing the dangers of their very profitable products.
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Both → accuse → products
But the climate suits have stalled.
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suits → stall → ?
Judges have been divided over whether these potentially huge claims should be decided in federal or state court, and if so, under what law.
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claims → divide → law
Last year, Boulder County, Colo., won a 5-2 ruling in the state Supreme Court that allowed its 2018 suit to proceed as a claim of a public nuisance, an unjust enrichment or a civil conspiracy.
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suit → win → nuisance
These are referred to as “common law” claims that are long-standing and traditional but do not rely on a measure approved by the Legislature.
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that → refer → Legislature
California has sued five of the largest oil and gas companies in the world, alleging that they engaged in a ‘decades-long campaign of deception’ about climate change and the risks posed by fossil fuels.
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they → sue → fuels
The Colorado judges also said the climate-change suits are not “preempted” or blocked by federal anti-pollution laws because the suit for damages did not regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
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suit → say → emissions
The dissenters said the state court was giving Boulder a “green light to act as its own republic” to punish the Exxon Mobil Corp. for the impact of “global climate change.”
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court → say → change
Appealing to the Supreme Court, the oil companies sounded the same theme.
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companies → appeal → theme
“Boulder, Colorado cannot make energy policy for the entire country,” they said.
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they → make → country
A ruling for the county would “authorize all 50 states and tens of thousands of municipalities” to ask their local juries to “impose ruinous liability” on the fossil fuel industry, they told the court.
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they → authorize → court
The Trump administration joined in support of the industry’s appeal.
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administration → join → appeal
“Our federal system would disintegrate if each state could tackle inherently national or international problems by forcing its regulatory prescriptions on the other 49,” the administration’s lawyers wrote.
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lawyers → disintegrate → 49
In February, the justices voted to hear the case and decide whether federal law blocks state law claims for the “effects of interstate and international greenhouse-gas emissions.”
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law → vote → emissions
The court scheduled the case of Suncor Energy and Exxon Mobil vs. Boulder County as the first of the new term.
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court → schedule → term
Legal experts say the industry’s claim to be shielded by federal law is weak.
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claim → say → law
UCLA law professor Alejandro Camacho described the “preemption arguments as the latest and perhaps most ambitious effort to weaponize federal law to prevent polluters and fraudsters from paying for the harms they cause.”
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they → describe → harms
Neither the Constitution nor the Clean Air Act provides such a shield, he said.
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he → provide → shield
Legal experts on the other side question the notion that a public nuisance can be defined so broadly to include both the sale of a legal product and the impact on carbon pollution, much of it coming from China and India.
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much → question → China
The outcome in the Supreme Court remains in doubt.
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outcome → remain → doubt
Last week, Justice Samuel A. Alito, a reliable conservative, announced he was withdrawing from the case.
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he → announce → case
He did not say why, but he owns stock in other oil companies that could be affected by the court’s decision.
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that → say → decision
A broad ruling for Boulder would send a shock through the fossil-fuel industry and clear the wave of climate-change suits to proceed in state courts.
The industry may turn to Congress.
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industry → send → Congress
have introduced bills that would shield energy companies from such liability claims.
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that → introduce → claims
Similarly, a broad ruling shielding the oil companies probably would block all of the climate change suits, including California’s.
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ruling → shield → California
The justices may opt out of ruling, however.
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justices → opt → ruling
When they granted review of the case, they asked the lawyers on both sides to weigh in on whether the high court had “jurisdiction” to decide the Boulder case.
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court → grant → case
Usually the U.S. Supreme Court reviews only final judgments handed down by state courts, and the Boulder case did not result in a final ruling.
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case → review → ruling
And without Alito, the court could split 4 to 4.
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court → split → Alito
Colorado ranchers struggling with severe drought and heat have filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a climate case that soon will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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that → struggle → Court
A decision based on a tie vote would affirm Boulder’s early stage victory but would not set a precedent that would govern other cases.
In its new term, the court also will hear major cases on immigration and guns.
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court → base → immigration
Two of the cases test the Trump administration’s strict deportation policies.
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Two → test → policies
…and 17 more, not listed.
The Aporia
