Press Releases
February 23, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. —The U.S. Supreme Court today granted ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy’s request to review a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that allowed the City and County of Boulder’s climate deception lawsuit to proceed toward trial. In granting the petition, the justices also asked the parties whether the Court has the authority to hear the case.
Boulder is one of dozens of state, local, and tribal governments across the U.S. fighting to put Big Oil companies on trial for lying to the public about how their products have fueled local climate damages.
Justice Alito, who has recused himself from considering most petitions in related cases — including a separate 2023 petition in Boulder’s case and a 2025 petition in Honolulu’s case on the same issue — did not recuse from consideration of this Boulder petition. Alito owns stock in ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66, which are defendants in multiple similar climate deception lawsuits that would likely be impacted by a ruling in Boulder’s case.
The fossil fuel companies asked the Court to review whether Boulder’s lawsuit is preempted by federal law. The justices had denied five previous requests from Big Oil companies or their political allies to take up cases against the companies since 2023 – including a virtually identical petition in a case in Hawai`i last year, from which Justice Alito recused.
As more cases get closer to trial, the fossil fuel industry has been lobbying Congress for a legal shield that would give them immunity from facing climate accountability in court. In January, the American Petroleum Institute announced that killing state climate lawsuits is a top 2026 priority for the oil lobby, and this month U.S. Rep. Harriet Hagement (R-WY) said she is working on such a bill.
Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, said:
“Big Oil’s climate lies are the most consequential and harmful corporate deception campaign in history, and the communities paying the price for that deception deserve to put these companies on trial. Exxon’s desperation to escape accountability does not change the evidence of their wrongdoing or the law that lower courts agree is on Boulder’s side.
“If fossil fuel companies have done nothing wrong, why have they spent the last year lobbying Congress for immunity?”
Alyssa Johl, vice president of legal and general counsel at the Center for Climate Integrity, said:
“Two state supreme courts have ruled on this issue and both have rejected Exxon’s baseless arguments. No part of the Constitution, or any state or federal law, gives corporations the right to lie to the public about the dangers associated with their products simply because those products are fossil fuels.
“Today’s announcement makes clear the justices do not agree whether the Court even has the authority to hear Boulder’s case at this time. The Court should uphold what the Colorado Supreme Court and others have made clear: communities like Boulder have the right to seek accountability in their state courts when corporations have knowingly caused local harms.”
Background on Board of County Commissioners of Boulder County v. Suncor Energy
Originally filed in 2018, Boulder’s lawsuit seeks to make ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy pay for the costs of local climate damages, arguing that the companies deceived the public about the dangers of their fossil fuel products and continued to produce, market, and sell them at dangerous levels despite knowing the risk.
In May 2025, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that the case could move into discovery and proceed toward trial, upholding a state trial court decision that concluded federal law did not preempt Boulder’s claims. “We are not persuaded by defendants’ myriad arguments to the contrary,” the Colorado Supreme Court ruled.
In January 2025, the Supreme Court denied a virtually identical petition from Big Oil companies to review a similar ruling from the Hawai`i Supreme Court that allowed a climate deception lawsuit from Honolulu to proceed toward trial. The Hawai`i and Colorado Supreme Courts — the only two state supreme courts to have ruled on the issue to date — both rejected Big Oil’s argument that state climate deception cases are preempted by federal law.
Background on U.S. Climate Accountability Lawsuits Against Big Oil:
Boulder, Colorado is one of a growing number of communities across the U.S. — including Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, the District of Columbia, and the states of Massachusetts, Vermont, Minnesota and Connecticut — whose climate deception lawsuits against Big Oil companies are advancing toward discovery and trial after courts denied the companies’ motions to dismiss.
The fossil fuel industry is lobbying Congress for immunity from climate accountability lawsuits. Last year, 16 Republican attorneys general proposed creating a “liability shield” for fossil fuel companies modeled on a 2005 law protecting gun manufacturers from lawsuits. Lawmakers in Utah and Oklahoma have also introduced state-level immunity bills for the fossil fuel industry.
Eleven U.S. states — California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai`i, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont — and the District of Columbia, along with dozens of city, county, and tribal governments in California, Colorado, Hawai`i, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Puerto Rico, have active 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.