Supreme Court showdown leaves future of climate lawsuits up in the air

Filed 3h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Merry Go

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Pinakpani · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

The Supreme Court opened its term hearing arguments over whether Boulder, Colorado, can sue Suncor Energy and ExxonMobil for allegedly misleading the public about climate change, in a case that's dragged through courts for eight years. Boulder says it has already spent millions on climate-related damage and expects to spend far more on mitigation.

Justices appeared split on how much room exists for such state lawsuits alongside federal Clean Air Act authority, with Kavanaugh citing a 'wall of precedent' for federal control of interstate pollution while Barrett and Gorsuch floated narrower state claims that might survive. Justice Jackson suggested the case is too undeveloped for the high court to rule definitively, and with Alito recused over financial ties to oil companies, a tie vote is possible.

More than one in four Americans live in a community with a similar pending lawsuit, meaning the ruling's reach extends well beyond Boulder.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Eight justices trying to draw a line between federal air and state nuisance law sounds less like constitutional law and more like neighbors arguing over whose smoke is drifting onto whose porch. Everybody agrees the smoke is a problem, nobody agrees who gets to do anything about it. Boulder's been waiting eight years for an answer and may get a shrug instead.

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

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