For The 5th Time In 3 Years, Exxon & Pals Pushing SCOTUS For Liability Help; Also Pushing Congress For Legal Immunity

[hatrack]

Facing a growing number of lawsuits that could hold them liable for billions of dollars in climate damages, oil companies for the fifth time in three years are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the cases before they can reach trial. This time, ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy want the justices to overturn a decision of the Colorado Supreme Court, which ruled that a lawsuit brought against the two companies by the city and county of Boulder could move forward earlier this year. The Colorado Supreme Court found that the state law claims against the companies were not preempted by federal law. The potential stakes of the case were brought into sharp focus in 2021, when the Marshall Fire — the most destructive wildfire in Colorado state history — killed two people, burned down more than a thousand homes in Boulder County, and caused at least $2 billion in damages.

The companies have previously expressed to the Supreme Court their fear that the cases could result in “massive monetary liability.” Now, stopping them as soon as possible is “a big priority not just for ExxonMobil, but for the entire industry,” said Exxon assistant general counsel Justin Anderson at a November panel discussion hosted by the Federalist Society, a conservative legal advocacy group funded in part by fossil fuel interests. “We’re seeing a lot more courage from people and groups and industry that’s recognizing that we have a problem, and we’re not going to wait another decade” to do something about it, he said.

EDIT

Boulder argues that the energy companies’ petition comes too soon, and that there would need to be a final decision on the merits of a case to warrant Supreme Court review. Like the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court’s ruling the Supreme Court declined to review, the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling only allows the case to move forward in state court. “As much as defendants might not like that outcome [that Boulder’s lawsuit is allowed to proceed], their displeasure is simply not a reason to federalize a state law case,” Richard Herz, chief litigation attorney of EarthRights International, a nonprofit legal advocacy group helping to represent Boulder, said in an e-mailed statement.

EDIT

Oil companies are not alone in pushing for an end to the lawsuits — they have also solicited help from government allies. After Trump issued an executive order for the Department of Justice to oppose the cases, the DOJ submitted an unsolicited brief in Exxon and Suncor’s petition, urging the Supreme Court to throw the cases out. More than 100 Republican members of Congress also filed a brief with the court, asking the justices to shield oil companies from potential liability that “would restructure the American energy industry if not bankrupt it altogether.” At the same time, the Trump administration is working to repeal the Endangerment Finding — the scientific basis for greenhouse gas regulation under the Clean Air Act. Doing so could undercut the industry’s core argument that the cases are preempted by federal law. After the companies reportedly began lobbying Congress for an immunity waiver themselves, 16 Republican state attorneys general urged the DOJ to recommend legislation that would reinforce federal preemption and create a liability shield for fossil fuel companies, similar to the one gun manufacturers obtained from Congress in 2005. “If these cases are as frivolous as the oil companies’ briefs pretend, then why in the world are you busting your butt to get a declaration of immunity from Congress?” asked Parenteau.

EDIT

https://www.desmog.com/2025/12/07/exxons-next-supreme-court-play/

[ariadne0614]

1. This is what Citizens United hath wrought.

The absurdity of the shibboleth “companies are people and “money is speech” has become painfully clear. Behemoth corporate entities have unlimited resources, and lack the human qualities required to consider quaint notions of the Common Good, the General Welfare, or even the survival of the species.

Econ101 teaches about externalizing the cost. That’s what’s happening here. They want the freedom to rape the planet at will, leaving the rest of us (Mother Nature included) to pay the cost of their destruction. Why does this remind me of the rich and powerful men who used the bodies of young women and girls for their own depraved idea of pleasure, and now expect to be forever protected from any form of public accountability, or justice for their victims? I detect a through line.

[WmChris]

2. Oligarchs in charge

It's all about business interests and to hell with humanity. Corporations are people too according to Roberts.