Description: 19 states' motion to file a bill complaint to block other states from pursuing climate change lawsuits against energy companies.
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Alabama v. California
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 03/10/2025 Order Download Motion for leave to file a bill of complaint. U.S. Supreme Court Rejected 19 States’ Attempt to Invoke Court’s Original Jurisdiction to Block Other States’ Climate Suits. The U.S. Supreme Court denied Alabama and 18 other states’ motion for leave to file a bill of complaint to block California and four other states from pursuing their climate change-based cases against fossil fuel companies. The plaintiff states had contended that the lawsuits “threaten not only our system of federalism and equal sovereignty among States, but our basic way of life.” They argued that the Court should exercise its original jurisdiction because there was no alternative forum in which they could seek relief. Justices Thomas, joined by Justice Alito, dissented from the denial. Justice Thomas wrote that because Congress had given the Court “exclusive” original jurisdiction over “all controversies between two or more States,” “our jurisdiction in this context would seem to be compulsory.” 12/24/2024 Brief Download Supplemental brief filed by the plaintiffs. 12/10/2024 Amicus Brief Download Brief filed for the United States as amicus curiae. The Solicitor General argued that the Court should deny a motion by Alabama and 18 other states for leave to file a bill of complaint against states that had brought climate change lawsuits against fossil fuel industry defendants. The Solicitor General contended that the plaintiff states’ alleged economic harms from the defendant states’ lawsuits depended on contingencies that were “too speculative and too attenuated to establish standing.” The Solicitor General also argued that the complaint did not satisfy the Court’s criteria for exercising original jurisdiction because only the interests of private companies were directly at stake and the pending lawsuits were a better vehicle for addressing issues raised by the plaintiff states. 10/07/2024 Order List Download Solicitor General invited to submit brief expressing the views of the United States. Supreme Court Invited Brief from Solicitor General on 19 States’ Request that Court Block Other States’ Climate Lawsuits Against Energy Companies. On October 7, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court invited the Solicitor General to submit a brief expressing the views of the United States on the motion filed by Alabama and 18 other states in May 2024 for leave to file a bill of complaint against five states that are pursuing climate change lawsuits against energy companies. In their motion, the plaintiff states contended that the lawsuits “threaten not only our system of federalism and equal sovereignty among States, but our basic way of life.” The plaintiff states argued that the Court should exercise its original jurisdiction because there was no alternative forum in which they could seek relief. 09/04/2024 Reply Download Reply brief filed in support of motion for leave to file bill of complaint. 08/21/2024 Brief Download Brief filed by California et al. in opposition. 07/23/2024 Amicus Brief Download Brief filed by American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce as amicus curiae in support of plaintiffs. 07/23/2024 Amicus Brief Download Brief filed by amicus curiae The Buckeye Institute in support of plaintiffs' motion for leave to file bill of complaint. 07/23/2024 Amicus Brief Download Brief filed by amici curiae federal courts scholars in support of movants. 07/23/2024 Amicus Brief Download Brief filed by amicus curiae The National Association of Manufacturers in support of plaintiffs' motion to file bill of complaint. 07/23/2024 Amicus Brief Download Brief filed by amicus curiae John Yoo in support of plaintiffs. 07/22/2024 Amicus Brief Download Brief filed by amicus curiae Consumers' Research, Inc. in support of motion for leave to file bill of complaint. 05/22/2024 Motion Download Motion filed for leave to file a bill of complaint. Nineteen States Asked Supreme Court to Enjoin Five States’ Lawsuits Against Energy Companies. Alabama and 18 other states filed a motion in the U.S. Supreme Court for leave to file a bill of complaint against five states that are pursuing climate change lawsuits against energy companies. The five defendant states are California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. The plaintiff states alleged that the defendant states “assert the power to dictate the future of the American energy industry … by imposing ruinous liability and coercive remedies on energy companies through state tort actions governed by state law in state court.” The plaintiff states contended that the lawsuits “threaten not only our system of federalism and equal sovereignty among States, but our basic way of life.” The plaintiff states argued that federal law must govern actions involving interstate gas emissions, and that the defendant states actions “exceed state authority, flout the horizontal separation of powers, usurp federal authority over a federal issue, and violate the prohibition on extraterritorial regulation embodied in the Commerce Clause.” They contended that the Supreme Court should exercise jurisdiction because there was no alternative forum in which the plaintiff states could protect their interests. The plaintiff states asked the Court to enjoin the defendant states “from seeking to impose liability or obtain equitable relief premised on either emissions by or in Plaintiff States or the promotion, use, and/or sale of traditional energy products in or to Plaintiff States.”