Supreme Court Issues Limited Ruling in Climate Change Litigation

The Supreme Court just issued a 7-1 ruling (authored by Justice Gorsuch) in favor of oil and gas companies in climate change litigation--but, significantly, this ruling only addresses a procedural concern, and does not implicate the merits of climate change litigation. 

Specifically, the various fossil fuel companies that had been sued in state court for damages relating to climate change under a nuisance theory (among other things) had generally removed these cases, on a variety of grounds, to federal court, which was perceived as a more favorable forum.  Certain federal courts remanded the cases to state court, and the fossil fuel companies appealed.  The Fourth Circuit--the appellate court for the Baltimore litigation--had ruled that it could only consider one of the various grounds for removal (namely, federal officer removal) on appeal.  This was the decision appealed to the Supreme Court, which has now held that the appellate courts must consider all of the various grounds for removal in these cases (based upon a particular statutory reading). 

In short, the Supreme Court avoided the significant questions relating to liability for climate change, and instead confined itself to addressing the narrow procedural question of the scope of appellate review.  This is not altogether surprising, as that procedural issue was the only one squarely before the Court.  However, it is noteworthy that the Court (or an individual justice) did not take this opportunity to opine on the viability of the theories of climate change liability offered by plaintiffs.

This decision does not change the fundamental framework of the current stage of climate change tort liability--the fossil fuel companies will have the opportunity to offer additional arguments at the appellate level for federal jurisdiction, which is considered a more favorable forum.  However, the Supreme Court has still not offered any guidance on the merits of this theory of climate change litigation.