California and other states suing the oil and gas industry for the ravages of climate change say an effort by Republican attorneys general to quash their lawsuits does not merit Supreme Court review.
In a brief filed with the court Wednesday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and four of his Democratic colleagues argued that their climate liability lawsuits against the fossil fuel industry won’t affect Alabama and 18 other states behind the Supreme Court challenge — and don’t pose a threat that the justices need to address.
“Alabama’s desire to protect those private defendants from liability is not the kind of sovereign concern that warrants an exercise of this court’s original jurisdiction,” Bonta wrote.
The brief comes three months after Republican attorneys general, led by Steve Marshall of Alabama, asked the Supreme Court to wield its exclusive oversight of legal battles between states. The Republicans want to sue five Democratic-led states that have asked courts to hold oil companies financially responsible for rising tides, intensifying storms and other disasters worsened by climate change.
