Climate change legal development

In what is a real surprise, the Republican Supreme Court has allowed American cities to sue major polluters like oil companies for climate change damages in state courts. I did not expect this. The polluters have been fighting this for years. The Guardian writes:

‘Like a dam breaking’: experts hail decision to let US climate lawsuits advance

Cities bringing climate litigation against oil majors welcome US supreme court’s decision to rebuff appeal to move cases to federal courts

The decision, climate experts and advocates said, felt “like a dam breaking” after years of legal delays to the growing wave of climate lawsuits facing major oil companies.

Without weighing in on the merits of the cases, the supreme court on Monday rebuffed an appeal by major oil companies that want to face the litigation in federal courts, rather than in state courts, which are seen as more favorable to plaintiffs [cities].

ExxonMobil Corp, Suncor Energy Inc and Chevron Corp had asked for the change of venue in lawsuits by the state of Rhode Island and municipalities in Colorado, Maryland, California and Hawaii.

Six years have passed since the first climate cases were filed in the US, and courts have not yet heard the merits of the cases as fossil fuel companies have succeeded in delaying them. In March, the Biden administration had argued that the cases belonged in state court, marking a reversal of the position taken by the Trump administration when the supreme court last considered the issue.

Maybe this will mark a shift in the balance of power in America's climate change wars. Up to now, the polluters had all the power by corrupting the federal government in their favor. The next key questions to be answered are whether (i) the polluters will be found liable in state courts, and (ii) state court verdicts will be upheld after the polluters appeal to the rigidly pro-capitalism and pro-pollution Republican Supreme Court.

This just might turn out to be a game-changer.