An 8-justice Supreme Court to decide whether cities can sue oil companies for climate change impacts

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The Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday in one of the most important climate change cases to reach its docket in years, a multibillion-dollar effort to hold major oil companies like ExxonMobil liable for the damages caused by planet-warming pollution.

The city and county of Boulder, Colorado, sued two energy companies in 2018, attempting to recover the cost of repairing infrastructure and providing access to public health services following fires and floods. Boulder argues the companies not only contributed to climate change but also misled the public about the role fossil fuels played in climate change.

Dozens of cities and states have filed similar lawsuits against oil companies, which warn the litigation amounts to a carbon tax that could ultimately bankrupt the energy industry.

It is the first case the court is hearing in a new term that begins Monday that features disputes over the AR-15 bans, religious schools and voting. A decision is expected by June.

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Boulder claims that it is exercising inherent state police powers to protect the health and safety of its residents, and that the practice is not novel. Dozens of states sued the largest tobacco companies in the 1990s seeking damages and alleging deceptive practices — litigation that led to a massive settlement.

“This litigation is not an attempt to solve climate change,” Boulder told the court. “It merely asks that petitioners bear their fair share of local costs incurred in part because of their tortious conduct.”

Exxon and Suncor Energy, the US subsidiary of a Canadian-based company, say it has long been understood that greenhouse gas emissions are inherently an interstate challenge and that those principles effectively preempt state tort laws.

“As this court has consistently recognized, resorting to a single state’s law to resolve an inherently interstate dispute contradicts the basic scheme of the Constitution,” the energy companies said.

In an unusual twist, conservative Justice Samuel Alito announced last week that he would recuse himself from the case. Though he did not state a reason at the time, he later told Bloomberg News that he felt it was “prudent” to step away given his holdings in energy stocks. The decision opens the possibility of a 4-4 split that would, by default, allow the litigation to continue.

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Exxon and Suncor filed the appeal at the Supreme Court last year after Colorado’s highest court sided with Boulder. If the US Supreme Court also backed Boulder, it wouldn’t be the end of the case; it would only permit the litigation to continue in state court.

If the court can’t find an answer to the big questions raised by the appeal, it could deal with the case in a more limited way. It’s not clear whether the appeal is ripe for Supreme Court review. If the court concludes that it’s too soon, that will send the case back to state courts — at least for now.

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最高法院将于周一审理近年来最重要的气候变化案件之一，这是一项数十亿美元的诉讼，旨在追究埃克森美孚等大型石油公司对造成全球变暖污染的损害的责任。

2018年，科罗拉多州博尔德市和县起诉了两家能源公司，试图追回火灾和洪水过后修复基础设施和提供公共卫生服务的费用。博尔德方面认为，这两家公司不仅加剧了气候变化，还误导公众，隐瞒了化石燃料在气候变化中所扮演的角色。

数十个城市和州已对石油公司提起类似诉讼，这些公司警告称，诉讼相当于征收碳税，最终可能导致能源行业破产。

这是最高法院在新一届审理期（周一开始）审理的首起案件，新一届审理期主要围绕AR-15步枪禁令、宗教学校和投票权等争议展开。预计将于6月作出裁决。

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克拉伦斯·托马斯正面临着最高法院多年来最重要的气候案件的严峻考验。

博尔德市声称，它是在行使州警察固有的权力来保护居民的健康和安全，而且这种做法并非新鲜事。上世纪90年代，数十个州起诉了最大的烟草公司，要求赔偿损失并指控其存在欺骗性行为——这些诉讼最终以巨额和解告终。

“这场诉讼并非旨在解决气候变化问题，”博尔德告诉法庭，“它只是要求请愿者承担因其侵权行为而产生的当地成本中应有的份额。”

埃克森美孚和森科能源（一家总部位于加拿大的公司的美国子公司）表示，人们早已认识到温室气体排放本质上是一个州际挑战，这些原则实际上凌驾于州侵权法之上。

能源公司表示：“正如本法院一贯承认的那样，诉诸单一州的法律来解决本质上属于州际争端，违背了宪法的基本原则。”

出人意料的是，保守派大法官塞缪尔·阿利托上周宣布他将回避此案。尽管他当时并未说明原因，但他后来告诉彭博新闻社，鉴于他持有能源股票，他认为回避是“审慎之举”。这一决定使得最高法院有可能出现4比4的僵局，如果出现这种情况，诉讼将得以继续进行。

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最高法院进入新任期，密切关注着特朗普总统。

埃克森美孚和森科能源去年向美国最高法院提起上诉，此前科罗拉多州最高法院支持了博尔德市的诉求。如果美国最高法院也支持博尔德市的诉求，案件并不会就此结束；它只会允许诉讼在州法院继续进行。

如果法院无法解答上诉提出的重大问题，则可能以更为有限的方式处理此案。目前尚不清楚该上诉是否已具备提交最高法院审理的条件。如果最高法院认为时机尚不成熟，则至少目前会将案件发回州法院重审。