News & Analysis
December 12, 2024
The Department of Justice is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to deny two requests to review climate deception lawsuits currently pending against Big Oil in state courts.
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar filed separate briefs that argued there was no legal basis for the justices to consider two different efforts that seek to prevent a growing number of states and local governments from putting Big Oil companies on trial for their climate lies.
In one, City and County of Honolulu v. Sunoco, et al., Big Oil defendants are asking the Supreme Court to review a ruling that would put Honolulu on track to becoming one of the first communities in the U.S. to put ExxonMobil, Chevron, and other oil majors on trial for a decades-long campaign of deception about the dangers of their fossil fuel products. In its denial of the oil defendants’ motions to dismiss, the Supreme Court of Hawai`i admonished defendants’ attempts to mischaracterize Honolulu’s case as a round-about form of emissions regulation, emphasizing instead the companies’ failure to warn about the dangers of their products and engaging in a sophisticated disinformation campaign.
The Solicitor General agreed with the Hawai`i Supreme Court’s assessment that federal laws regulating climate pollution do not apply to the case because Honolulu’s claims “target only the [fossil fuel] products’ deceptive marketing.”
In a separate and “highly unusual” effort — Alabama, et al. v. California, et al. — 19 state attorneys general are asking the Supreme Court to block climate deception lawsuits against Big Oil that were filed by five states — California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. The Justice Department urged the Supreme Court to reject that request too, writing that “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.”
Big Oil companies and their allies have fought for years to avoid trial in such cases. The Honolulu request was even the subject of a widespread dark money-backed media campaign.
These are the second and third briefs that the Biden administration has filed in support of communities suing Big Oil for climate deception. In 2023, the Supreme Court followed the Justice Department’s guidance and denied petitions to review lower court rulings that allowed communities in Colorado and across the U.S. to advance climate accountability lawsuits in state court. Under the first Trump administration, however, in similar cases the Justice Department sided with Big Oil.
“As the Solicitor General makes clear, there is no legal basis for the Supreme Court to intervene in these cases,” Alyssa Johl, CCI’s vice president of legal and general counsel, said. “State and local governments are seeking to hold corporations accountable for lying about their harmful products, and state courts have the authority to hear those claims. The justices should reject these meritless requests and allow communities to have their day in court to hold Big Oil accountable.”
