Supreme Court Rejects Red State Attempt to Sue Blue States Over Climate Suits
This morning the Supreme Court denied a motion filed by several states to file a bill of complaint against other states for filing state-law-based lawsuits against fossil fuel energy companies. As has become tradition, Justice Thomas (joined by Justice Alito) dissented from the Court’s refusal to grant the motion and consider the complaint on the merits.
In Alabama v. California, a red state coalition led by Alabama was seeking Supreme Court intervention to quash lawsuits filed by some blue state attorneys general against fossil fuel companies alleging their actions were actionable under state law. For reasons I’ve explained before (and address at the tail end of this draft symposium essay), the red state complaints are without merit, particularly in this posture. The idea that one state can sue another for merely filing a lawsuit in state court is quite outlandish. But it is nonetheless problematic that the Supreme Court is so dismissive of state filings seeking to invoke the Court’s original jurisdiction. The better course would have been for the Court to grant the petition and then reject the claim on the merits.
Here is Justice Thomas’s dissent.
The Court once again denies leave to file a complaint in a suit between States. Alabama and 18 other States moved for leave to file a complaint against California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. The plaintiff States allege that the defendant States are attempting to “dictate interstate energy policy” through the aggressive use of state-law tort suits. Bill of Complaint 1–3. On the plaintiff States’ account, these suits seek to “impos[e] ruinous liability and coercive remedies on energy companies . . . based on out-of-state conduct with out-of-state effects,” for the purpose of placing a “global carbon tax on the traditional energy industry.” Id., at 1–2. The plainti
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