Supreme Court seeks US views on Republican AGs challenge to climate change cases
Adds comment from Alabama attorney general's office in paragraphs 3, 6
By Nate Raymond
Oct 7 (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked President Joe Biden's administration to weigh in on whether the justices should allow 19 Republican-led states to try to block five Democratic-led states from pursuing lawsuits over climate change against major oil and gas companies in state courts.
The request for input from U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar on the first day of the Supreme Court's new term came in a case Republican state attorneys general filed in May that experts had previously called a long shot.
A spokesperson for Republican Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who is leading the lawsuit, in a statement called the Supreme Court's request "an encouraging sign that the justices are taking seriously the complaint of 19 states."
The Democratic-led states have noted that the Supreme Court has previously rejected bids by oil companies to move several such lawsuits to federal court, after numerous U.S. appeals courts said the claims are not preempted by federal law.
Prelogar had weighed in on that issue as well and had successfully urged the justices to reject the oil companies' appeals.
The Republican stateattorneys general took aim at lawsuits that Democratic-led California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island had filed against companies, including Exxon XOM.N, ConocoPhillips COP.N, Shell SHEL.L and BP BP.L.
The state court lawsuits generally accuse the energy companies of creating a public nuisance or violating state laws by concealing from the public for decades the fact that burning fossil fuels would lead to climate change.
The Republican-led states argued that by suing major energy companies in state court seeking damages for the harms of climate change, the Democratic-led states are essentially trying to regulate global emissions and the U.S. energy system.
Only the federal government can regulate interstate gas emissions and Democratic-led states have exceeded their authority by seeking "sweeping injunctive relief or a catastrophic damages award that could restructure the national energy system," the Republican-led states argued.
The case was filed directly with the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority. Under the U.S. Constitution, the high court has "original jurisdiction" in a small set of cases pitting states against states.
The Democratic-led states led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta in a brief filed in August called their Republican counterparts' case "novel and meritless" and said it rested on a misunderstanding of their climate change lawsuits.
They argued the lawsuits did not seek to impose liability on oil companies based on their fossil fuel production generally but instead sought to "address local harms resulting from unlawful deceptive conduct by private defendants."
The Supreme Court in June separately asked Prelogar to weigh in on whether to hear an appeal by Exxon, Chevron and Sunoco of a Hawaii Supreme Court ruling allowing Honolulu's lawsuit alleging the companies to proceed to trial. Her office has yet to file a brief in that case, which remains pending.
The case is Alabama v. California, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 22O158.
For the challengers: Edmund LaCour of the Alabama Attorney General's Office
For the defendants: Julie Veroff of the California Department of Justice
Read more:
Republican-led states ask Supreme Court to quash Big Oil climate lawsuits
Exxon, Chevron ask US Supreme Court to toss ruling in Honolulu climate change suit
US Supreme Court rebuffs Exxon, Chevron appeals in climate cases
Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston
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