US Supreme Court should avoid climate change cases, Biden administration says

By Nate Raymond

Dec 11 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's administration is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reject efforts by oil companies and Republican state attorneys general to prevent state and local governments from pursuing lawsuits accusing the fossil fuel producers of deceiving the public about climate change.

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar in briefs filed on Tuesday said the justices should reject an appeal by oil companies of a Hawaii Supreme Court ruling allowing Honolulu to sue them and a separate bid by 19 Republican-led states to block five Democratic-led states from pursuing similar cases.

The filings come in the final weeks of the Democratic president's administration before Republican President-elect Donald Trump takes office Jan. 20. Trump on the campaign trail pledged to stop the "frivolous litigation."

The 6-3 conservative majority Supreme Court had sought the views of the solicitor general in the two separate cases in June and October.

In the Hawaii litigation, the city and county of Honolulu filed a lawsuit in 2020 accusing oil and gas companies including Sunoco SUN.N, Exxon Mobil XOM.N, BP BP.L, Chevron CVX.N and Shell SHEL.L of misleading the public for decades about the dangers of climate change induced by burning fossils fuels.

The companies in February asked the Supreme Court to review a November 2023 decision by the Hawaii Supreme Court that rejected their argument that the lawsuit sought to regulate emissions or interstate commerce, powers reserved for the federal government.

Prelogar, though, argued that the U.S. Supreme Court should avoid considering that issue at this time, saying the companies were still raising other constitutional arguments at the lower-court level that could dispose of the case.

Theodore Boutrous, a lawyer for Chevron at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, in a statement argued Supreme Court review was warranted at this time "to prevent pointless harm to our nation’s energy security."

Prelogar also urged the justices not to allow Republican state attorneys general to sue Democratic-led California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island to block lawsuits they filed against Exxon, Shell, BP and other companies.

That case was filed directly with the U.S. Supreme Court. Under the U.S. Constitution, the high court has "original jurisdiction" in a small set of cases pitting states against states.

The Republican-led states argue that by suing major energy companies in state court seeking damages for the harms of climate change, the Democratic-led states are essentially trying to regulate global emissions and the U.S. energy system.

Prelogar countered that "there is no merit to the contention that the federal common law of trans-boundary air pollution governs (and therefore precludes)" the Democratic-led states' claims.

But she said regardless, the Republican-led states lacked standing to pursue their claims in the first place, saying they wanted to sue over the "speculative" possibility that a state court might someday hold private companies, not the states themselves, liable for climate change deception.

A spokesperson for Republican Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who is leading the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The cases at the U.S. Supreme Court are Sunoco v. City and County of Honolulu, No. 23-947, and Alabama v. California, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 22O158.

For the Republican-led states: Edmund LaCour of the Alabama Attorney General's Office

For the Democratic-led states: Julie Veroff of the California Department of Justice

For the U.S. government: Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar

For Sunoco: Kannon Shanmugam of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

For Shell: David Frederick of Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick

Read more:

Supreme Court seeks US views on Republican AGs challenge to climate change cases

Republican-led states ask Supreme Court to quash Big Oil climate lawsuits

Exxon, Chevron ask US Supreme Court to toss ruling in Honolulu climate change suit

US Supreme Court rebuffs Exxon, Chevron appeals in climate cases

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston)

((Nate.Raymond@thomsonreuters.com and Twitter @nateraymond; 347-243-6917; Reuters Messaging: nate.raymond.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))