Press Releases
March 10, 2025
Washington, D.C. — For the second time this year, the Supreme Court has declined to consider arguments that aim to shield Big Oil companies from facing lawsuits seeking to hold them accountable for their climate deception.
The justices denied a motion from 19 state attorneys general asking the Supreme Court to stop climate deception lawsuits filed against Big Oil companies by five states — California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island — in their respective state courts. Legal scholars have called Alabama, et al. v. California, et al. “highly unusual,” and the attorneys general of Minnesota, Connecticut, and New Jersey respectively called the effort “absurd,” “pure partisan political theater,” and a “desperate stunt.”
The decision comes after the Justice Department in December urged the Supreme Court to reject the attorneys general petition, 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.” In January, the Supreme Court denied Big Oil’s request to review a Hawai`i Supreme Court decision that allows Honolulu’s climate deception lawsuit against Big Oil companies to proceed toward trial.
Justice Alito did not recuse himself from Alabama, et al. v. California, et al. — joining Justice Thomas in a dissent from the court’s denial of the motion — even though he has recused himself from consideration of climate accountability lawsuits against Big Oil at least five times since 2021.
Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, released the following statement:
“This desperate sideshow was just another attempt to bail out Big Oil from standing trial for their climate lies. 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.”
Background on U.S. Climate Accountability Lawsuits Against Big Oil:
Eleven attorneys general — in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico — and dozens of city, county, and tribal governments in California, Colorado, Hawai`i, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington, and Puerto Rico, have filed lawsuits to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change. These cases collectively represent more than 1 in 4 people living in the United States. Last year, the attorney general of Michigan announced plans to take fossil fuel companies to court.