| The oil and gas industry is eager to get the Supreme Court’s attention. And it's got powerful allies to help. Individuals with ties to Leonard Leo — the powerful conservative activist who served as former President Donald Trump's unofficial judicial adviser — have clamored for the court to take up an industry-led petition that could erase a raft of lawsuits lodged against major oil producers. The justices could announce in the coming days whether they will take up the case, as I write today. Dozens of cities, counties and states have sued the industry in state court, accusing it of misleading the public about the dangers of burning fossil fuels. If successful, they could force oil companies to pony up hundreds of billions of dollars for harming the public — much like tobacco and opioid manufacturers before them. The oil industry has asked the high court to block the municipalities’ rush to state courthouses. Their argument was echoed in a flood of recent opinion pieces in conservative outlets and social media campaigns helmed by critics of the litigation — including those with ties to Leo. They argue that the lawsuits are a veiled attempt to steer energy policy and that climate change does not fall under local consumer protection or public nuisance laws. “The climate nuisance, fraud, and misrepresentation cases are reaching the point of no return,” Carrie Severino, a Leo ally and former clerk to conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, warned this week in the National Review. Leo, co-chair of the Federalist Society, is a judicial activist who helped select Trump's three Supreme Court nominees. A 2023 POLITICO review found that most conservative legal briefs filed in connection with high-profile Supreme Court cases had links to a small cadre of activists aligned with Leo. The court could announce as early as Monday whether it will take up the industry petition, Sunoco v. City and County of Honolulu. It wouldn’t be the first time: The justices took up the matter as recently as 2021, instructing lower courts to give the industry another chance to argue that the cases should be heard in federal court, where the industry believes they’re more likely to be tossed. But after a line of federal appellate judges insisted state courts are the appropriate venue, the industry went back to the high court in February. This time, they are appealing a decision by Hawaii’s Supreme Court that blocked oil companies from dismissing Honolulu’s lawsuit against them. The campaign comes as Republican attorneys general in 19 states took the unusual step last month of launching their own bid at the Supreme Court to kill climate lawsuits filed by some of their Democratic counterparts. All the attorneys are members of the Republican Attorneys General Association — which is funded in part by the Leo-led Concord Fund. The Wall Street Journal's editorial page also weighed in with a request for the court to intervene, calling the climate liability lawsuits "unconstitutional coups." Legal observers say the efforts to sway the justices are unprecedented. "Between the media campaign and the recent lawsuit from conservative state AGs, the oil companies’ desperation is showing,” said Jenny Rushlow, dean of the Maverick Lloyd School for the Environment at Vermont Law and Graduate School.
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