News & Analysis
March 11, 2025
For the second time this year, the nation’s highest court has refused to consider legal arguments that aim to shield Big Oil companies from facing lawsuits over their decades-long climate deception.
In a Monday order, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a “highly unusual” petition from 19 state attorneys general that sought to stop five other states — California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island — from suing oil majors in their own state courts for lying to the public about how their products fuel climate change.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who last month won a ruling that brings his consumer fraud lawsuit against ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Institute closer to trial, said the failed effort was backed by “fossil fuel interests and Leonard Leo,” whose vast dark money network has worked to oppose climate lawsuits against Big Oil.
“This was never anything more than an attempt to run interference, help the defendants in our cases avoid accountability, and play politics with the Constitution,” Ellison said. “I am glad the Supreme Court saw through it all and put an end to their charade."
The justices’ decision aligns with guidance from the U.S. Department of Justice, which told the high court in December that the petition “is not the right vehicle for addressing the validity” of state lawsuits against Big Oil and “there is no reason for this Court to address the constitutionality of the defendant States’ claims before their courts have addressed those state-law matters.”
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from the court’s decision on procedural grounds, but made no reference to the merits of the lawsuits against Big Oil, or any arguments against them. Alito participated in the consideration of the case even though he has recused himself from other climate accountability lawsuits against Big Oil at least five times since 2021, likely because of his investments in at least one oil company named as a defendant in the cases.
In January, the Supreme Court denied a separate request from Big Oil companies to review a
Hawai`i Supreme Court decision that allowed Honolulu’s climate deception lawsuit against Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP, and others to advance toward trial.
Alabama, et al. v. California, et al. was filed by the attorneys general of 19 states: Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
“This desperate sideshow was just another attempt to bail out Big Oil from standing trial for their climate lies,” said CCI President Richard Wiles. “The justices were right to deny it. Now these states can continue advancing their efforts to present the evidence of Big Oil’s climate deception in court and hold these companies accountable.”
