By Greg Stohr | Bloomberg
The US Supreme Court refused to consider an unusual bid by 19 Republican-run states to derail a set of lawsuits that seek to hold oil and gas companies accountable for climate change.
Over two dissents, the justices rejected a request by the Alabama-led group to file a complaint directly in the Supreme Court against five Democratic-run states that are pressing cases against the oil industry.
RELATED: Erin Brockovich on Moss Landing battery fire: ‘The truth’s not coming out’
The climate suits are among more than two dozen that collectively seek billions of dollars from Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc, Chevron Corp. and other oil companies. The states pressing the suits, including California and New Jersey, say the companies deceived consumers about the risks posed by fossil fuels.
The court as a whole gave no explanation. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented, reiterating their long-held view that the Supreme Court must accept lawsuits filed by one state against another.
“The court today leaves the 19 plaintiff states without any legal means of vindicating their claims against the five defendant states,” Thomas wrote for the pair.
The GOP states sought to invoke the Supreme Court’s so-called original jurisdiction, under which states can sometimes sue one another directly at the nation’s highest tribunal. The Supreme Court has said its original jurisdiction should be exercised “sparingly” and not when an alternative forum exists to resolve a dispute.
Alabama said its case met the court’s criteria, contending the Democratic-run states are unconstitutionally trying to regulate emissions beyond their borders. Those states “assert the power to enact disastrous nationwide energy policy via state tort law enforced by state courts,” Alabama argued.
California and the other liberal states said the oil companies can raise the same arguments in defending against the climate suits. “Alabama’s desire to protect those private defendants from liability is not the kind of sovereign concern that warrants an exercise of this court’s original jurisdiction,” the California group argued.
The Supreme Court so far has declined to intervene in climate suits. The justices rejected an appeal by oil companies on Jan. 13, letting Honolulu press a suit against the industry. The court in 2023 turned away company appeals that sought to shift the lawsuits into federal court, where corporate defendants often fare better.
The latest case is Alabama v. California, 22o158.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.