News & Analysis
March 13, 2026
As a growing wave of communities across the country demand Big Oil is held accountable for its long-standing climate deception, the industry is doing everything in its power to evade accountability — including pushing Congress to put the fossil fuel industry above the law. In an opinion piece published this week in the Los Angeles Times, former Washington Governor Jay Inslee sounded the alarm to reject the fossil fuel industry’s efforts to secure a legal liability shield that would block communities’ ability to hold Big Oil accountable for climate damages fueled by their decades of lies.
Inslee, a consultant for CCI, outlined Big Oil’s efforts to circumvent the justice system in his opinion piece:
In the Oval Office, the Supreme Court and the halls of Congress, fossil fuel interests
are urging all three branches of government to help shield the companies from
accountability and give Big Oil a get-out-of-jail-free card. Like attempts to immunize
pesticide and AI companies, the calls to give Big Oil immunity should be loudly and
vigorously opposed by all who agree that no corporation or person should be above
the law. After Big Oil CEOs raised their fears about climate lawsuits during a private
meeting with President Trump, the president ordered Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi to “take
all appropriate action” to help the companies escape justice. The administration filed
baseless lawsuits against two states and — in rare uninvited briefs — urged the
Supreme Court and others to stop cases against the companies before they reach trial.
[Last month], after rightfully turning down five previous requests in three years, the
Supreme Court agreed to hear Big Oil’s arguments to escape one of those cases —
brought by the City and County of Boulder, Colo., where a deadly climate-fueled
wildfire destroyed more than 1,000 homes. In granting Exxon Mobil’s petition, the
justices signaled that they are unclear whether they even have the jurisdiction to
consider the case before it is presented to a jury. Rather than simply take their
chances in court, fossil fuel industry lobbyists and surrogates are going around judges
entirely — urging members of Congress to pass legislation that could bar the
courthouse doors for communities and give fossil fuel companies total legal
immunity. The American Petroleum Institute, the largest oil and gas trade
association, declared that protecting oil companies from “abusive state climate
lawsuits” is one of its chief priorities and is lobbying on draft legislation.
Big Oil is “trying to get Congress to take away the ability of Americans to have access to juries,” explains former Washington Governor @govjayinslee.bsky.social. The public deserves the right to take corporations to court for breaking the law. No immunity for Big Oil!
— Center for Climate Integrity (@climateintegrity.org) December 28, 2025 at 8:14 AM
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Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) says she will introduce a bill to shield Big Oil from
lawsuits after House Republicans unsuccessfully tried to block the District of
Columbia from using its own consumer protection law “against oil and gas companies
over environmental claims.” The bill is likely to resemble the “liability shield” for
fossil fuel companies that a group of Republican attorneys general, many in the
pocket of Big Oil, called for modeling after the disgraceful protections Congress gave
gun manufacturers. A long-standing principle in our legal system has always been
that if another party causes you harm, you have the right to take them to court and
make your case for restitution. It’s one I helped people exercise for years as a trial
attorney, representing victims of bad actors, dangerous products and discrimination
in their efforts to secure justice. But now one of the most powerful and harmful
corporate lobbies in history is hoping to rig the system so that legal accountability
cannot apply to them.
California and other communities deserve their day in court to put these companies
on trial and hold them accountable for the harm they’ve caused. Juries are a
fundamental bastion of democracy, and it’s beyond dangerous to allow powerful and
wealthy corporations to shield themselves from ever having to face jurors’ judgment.
After all, if the fossil fuel industry is following the law, what does it have to fear in
court?
Learn more about Big Oil’s campaign for a liability shield — and what you can do to oppose it — at NoImmunityForBigOil.org.
Image: “Palisades Fire” by CAL FIRE_Official, CC BY-NC 2.0
