The U.S. Supreme Court this morning opted out of providing guidance on whether climate lawsuits against energy companies should progress in federal court, thereby allowing them to continue on their paths to state courts across the country. Importantly, the plaintiffs in these cases face an uphill battle, as every climate suit that has been heard on the merits has been decisively rejected.
Bloomberg Government reported that a decision on the merits of the climate suits “is still a long way off,” and analysts from independent energy research firm ClearView Energy Partners pointed out that the future of climate litigation is hardly a straight line from here:
“Allowing the cases to play out in state court first does not preclude the energy companies winning on the merits… Nor does it prevent federal review of adverse state court rulings in the future on the question of federal preemption.”
And this isn’t the last opportunity for SCOTUS to get involved in these cases; the Court will have another bite at the apple as soon as next month when it considers a separate cert petition filed by the companies named in a climate lawsuit filed by the State of Delaware and the City of Hoboken, New Jersey.
Read the full post on EIDClimate.org.
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