Overview
- The court heard oral argument on Monday, Oct. 5, in a case brought by Boulder County that seeks money from ExxonMobil and Suncor for climate harms and alleged concealment of risks.
- Justices will decide whether the Clean Air Act or the Constitution preempts state tort claims and whether the Court may resolve those questions before a trial begins.
- Boulder says the companies knowingly caused and hid climate risks and should pay for local costs like wildfire and flood damage; the companies say greenhouse gas rules belong to the federal government and state suits would create a patchwork of regulation.
- Justice Samuel Alito recused himself after disclosure of oil‑sector holdings, leaving eight participating justices and a real risk of a 4–4 tie that would leave Colorado’s lower‑court ruling in place but create no national precedent.
- The outcome could extinguish roughly dozens of similar city, county and state cases and affect state 'climate superfund' laws, and the case drew heavy amicus activity plus a Justice Department brief urging preemption.