Alito recusal reshapes Boulder climate case — SkimNews
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- Boulder, Colorado sued Suncor and Exxon Mobil in 2018 over climate adaptation costs; the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in May 2025 the case belongs in state courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments Monday.
- Justice Samuel Alito recused himself due to financial holdings in oil companies, weakening oil companies' path to a five-justice majority to halt the suit before trial.
- Colorado ranchers, rallied by Deirdre Macnab after Rio Blanco County spent thousands in taxpayer funds siding with oil companies, filed a brief citing devastating losses including 60 of a neighbor's cows burned in last year's fires and thousands spent hauling feed and water during this year's drought.
- A watchdog organization found 25 of the 38 amicus briefs supporting Exxon Mobil and Suncor came from groups with fossil fuel industry ties or foundations opposing climate science and regulation.
- Conservative legal scholars including William & Mary Law School's Jonathan Adler and former Republican EPA heads Christine Todd Whitman and William Reilly argue nothing in federal law or the Constitution bars Boulder's state-court suit.
- Louisiana coastal parishes are separately suing Chevron over coastal restoration costs, illustrating that some conservative jurisdictions increasingly view oil companies as liable for local climate costs.
Why it matters: Alito's recusal removes one of the court's most reliable right-leaning votes, narrowing oil companies' path to a five-justice majority to halt the Boulder suit before trial. The case's outcome determines whether state courts remain a viable venue for the dozens of climate liability suits local governments have filed—with billions in damages at stake.
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