Justice Alito steps away from major climate dispute

Filed 1h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Missvain · CC0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Justice Samuel Alito announced Monday, a week before oral arguments, that he will no longer participate in Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, a case testing whether local governments can sue oil companies for climate damages. He gave no reason for the reversal, despite having rebuffed recusal calls earlier this year and having a court spokesperson tell NBC News in May that legal counsel found recusal unnecessary.

Alito's financial disclosures show he holds stock in seven oil, gas and mining companies, including ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66, though not in Suncor or Exxon Mobil, the parties before the court. He previously recused from an earlier iteration of this same case in 2023 and from a separate oil company dispute in January, both times citing financial holdings.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Funny how the ethics only kick in once the arguments are a week away and the cameras are already pointed at the building. Nothing about his stock portfolio changed between May and now, only the calendar did. A recusal that shows up at the last minute isn't caution, it's timing, and timing like that tends to answer the question everybody was already asking.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Umbrella Pants · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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