SCOTUS Wrestles With Boulder Climate Case Against Exxon, Suncor — SkimNews
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- Boulder, Colorado urged the Supreme Court to allow its case against Exxon Mobil and Suncor to proceed in state court, framing the suit around the companies' alleged deception of the public rather than an effort to curb fossil fuel production or emissions.
- Justice Elena Kagan analogized Boulder's case to the 1990s wave of state lawsuits against tobacco companies, in which cigarette makers were forced to fund healthcare costs and anti-smoking campaigns without being barred from selling their products.
- Justice Brett Kavanaugh warned that allowing the suit to proceed in Colorado could "bankrupt" oil and gas companies and called Boulder's framing of the financial stakes "cavalier"; Suncor has told shareholders that mounting climate litigation could hit its bottom line.
- Justice Samuel Alito recused himself without explanation after facing accusations that his oil and gas investments made his participation inappropriate — a move that opens the door to a 4-4 split that would let Boulder's state-court case continue.
- Kannon Shanmugam, the attorney for the oil companies, called the case "an unprecedented effort to use state law to regulate global conduct" and said more similar suits "are being filed by the week," each seeking billions of dollars in damages.
- The court's eventual rationale — which could range from constitutional questions about state regulatory authority to interpretation of the Clean Air Act — will affect dozens of pending climate suits differently depending on each one's legal basis, according to Harvard Law School's Erika Kranz.
Why it matters: Boulder wants fossil fuel companies to pay for deceiving the public, not to stop producing oil — a distinction the oil industry spent two hours urging justices to blur. The court's framing will ripple through dozens of pending climate suits seeking billions in damages, and a 4-4 split is now a real possibility after Alito's recusal.
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