Reposted from The Washington Times
By Chris Horner
The Climate Litigation Industry Comes to SCOTUS
Increasingly, societal institutions have enlisted as warriors in ideological and economically predatory litigation campaigns. These campaigns are typically coordinated among the trial bar and ideologically committed donors and activists. The “climate” entrants are particularly furious, and next week they make their way to the United States Supreme Court.
The question on Tuesday in Mayor and City of Baltimore v. BP p.l.c. actually has nothing to do with climate change, but is jurisdictional. Nonetheless, by settling whether these cases may be tried in local courts which the plaintiffs clearly see as their hope to provide the desired windfall, the Court’s decision could make or break what has become a climate litigation industry.
Practitioners include a breadth of non-profit groups – both issue-advocacy and charitable foundations – as well as universities, and private tort law firms. The most concerning aspect of that effort has been participation by privately hired activist attorneys placed in the offices of progressive state attorneys general by a major political donor, Michael Bloomberg. It smacks of renting the offices.
This litigation campaign’s objectives are several, and include silencing dissenting voices on key issues of national policy; compelling regulation that has eluded advocates through the legislative and rulemaking processes; and obtaining from the targeted parties financial settlements contemplated to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars, which settlements would be used in part to further underwrite the advocates’ and their partners’ efforts, along with the condition that the litigation targets agree to advocate for the larger policy agenda.
The plaintiffs’ team are regularly found admitting these things, only to vehemently deny them when specifically asked whether this is an attempt to use the courts as substitute policymaker for a failed policy agenda that they simply have failed to sell to the public.
“Lawfare is an ugly tool by which to seek the[se] environmental policy changes,” the Texas Court of Appeals wrote in a June 2020 opinion in a case central to fighting this blitz, County of Santa Cruz, et al. v. Exxon Mobil Corp., That court disparaged ”enlisting the judiciary to do the work that the other two branches of government cannot or will not do to persuade their constituents that anthropogenic climate change (a) has been conclusively proved and (b) must be remedied by crippling the energy industry.”
The Baltimore case will be heard on the last day of the Trump administration. This was fortuitous scheduling as Trump’s Solicitor General requested time to argue, signaling strong support for the defendants’ position. In a further sign of the matter’s importance, the Biden-Harris campaign pledged to “instruct the Attorney General to… strategically support ongoing plaintiff-driven climate litigation against polluters”. However improper, it’s clear that the Biden-Harris administration would do so if they believed they can get away with it, only adding to the urgency of this case.
As a Senator on the Judiciary Committee, and clearly with City of Baltimore in mind, Kamala Harris accosted then-Judge Amy Coney Barrett with sneering questions about climate change at Barrett’s confirmation hearing.
On the other side, a group I advise and represent on numerous matters, Energy Policy Advocates (EPA), filed a friend of the Court brief in the Baltimore case to provide the Court with Emails obtained under public records laws which reveal the true nature of this climate litigation industry.
Its recruiting team tours the country urging local government officials to hire the plaintiffs’ tort firm to file a “climate” lawsuit on their behalf. Emails show prospective litigants are enticed by the offer to represent them without charge. That is, if they sign lucrative contingency fee agreements under which the plaintiffs’ tort law firms receive a sliding scale of tens to hundreds of millions of dollars of any verdict or, what they seem to really want, any settlement.
EPA cited one series of emails obtained from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, laying out the network of public-facing groups joining the law firm in its pitch. These include the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD), and a group called EarthRights International, all brought in by a politically connected lobbyist to broker the introductions.
It also recently became publicly known leading climate-tort firm has received millions of dollars in grants from at least one left-wing charitable foundation. This raises flags because, as one law professor noted, “it is reasonable to surmise that” the grants are related to the contingency-fee lawsuits.
This is a bad look, and it soon turned out that the very same IGSD, last seen in those Florida recruiting emails, had become a new conduit for paying “climate nuisance” tort firms.
Naturally, an official with climate-plaintiff Rhode Island confessed to using its suit to obtain a “sustainable funding stream” for its spending ambitions, but the legislature wouldn’t provide. One can see how this industry has taken off, there seems to be nothing to lose. That is, other than the benefits of abundant, affordable and reliable energy that both this litigation industry and its allied Green New Dealers seek to destroy.
In very short, next week’s Mayor and City of Baltimore case is really about whether the abuses of this coordinated campaign between government, donors, ideologues and the trial bar will plague us and our economy for years. Instead, if the Supreme Court does the right thing, the shakedown will be shut down, and policy will be left to the democratic process.
Chris Horner is an attorney in Washington, D.C., and a member of the board of the public interest law firm Government Accountability & Oversight, P.C.
Can this case be described more simply?
Probably not. But maybe this link will help you figure things out a little.
https://ballotpedia.org/BP_P.L.C._v._Mayor_and_City_Council_of_Baltimore
Tort lawyers, green NGOs and money-grubbing politicians have colluded together to sue vulnerable energy companies in State courts, anticipating huge money windfalls from sympathetic local jurors. The defendants are trying to get the U.S. Supreme Court to redirect the cases to Federal courts, considering the national (even international) nature of any supposed climate change harms from manmade CO2, and also that Federal courts are relatively free of emotional manipulation.
I think of this LIKE the tobacco lawsuits.
It’s different from the tobacco litigation in one very important way. The states as plaintiffs in the tobacco litigation argued they were expending hundreds of millions of dollars for the medical care of individuals suffering from the damages caused by tobacco. The pitch to the jury was simple- somebody has to pay for this- its either you as a taxpayer or the tobacco companies. Pretty easy decision for the juries. In the oil cases the states can’t make this argument- at least not with a straight face. They have tried to argue for future damages but courts generally don’t support speculative future damage arguments. Plus the states as plaintiffs have to face the defendant oil company arguments that these states sell bonds every year without a single mention in the “risk factors” section about all these funds they will supposedly have to spend in the future to pay for supposed climate damages. These are much tougher cases for the states.
Except the states used the tobacco settlement proceeds windfall in many unrelated categories of spending much like we’re seeing with carbon tax revenues in California.
By saying “except” you make it sound like it’s somehow makes a difference to what marc just said. pointing out one of the ways they’re alike doesn’t negates the one very important way they’re different that Marc mentioned.
Better yet, the author would have better informed the readers by giving a rudimentary explanation of the specific case. We’re all familiar with environuts using lawfare to further their cause. We have no idea why this case matters because no details were provided. I guess I’ll try Wikipedia.
SCOTUS?
Well, I understand POTUS – sounds like a potentate, unlimited in his power.
Somebody like cesar, Nero, who would burn his country.
But SCOTUS?
That sounds really really bad.
Like a dirty animal.
Very unlucky abbreviations.
Or is it an intention?
that doesn’t help to simplify
Supreme Court Of The United States
TOTUS Teleprompter Of The United States
No, if it was intentional, it would probably be SCROTUS. Or maybe not since that would suggest it had BALLS and would not go MIA when the country most needed it.
“No, if it was intentional, it would probably be SCROTUS.”
Been playing the Mad Max video game, eh? 🙂
Maybe Chris Horner and gang could come up with some other organizations that, just by sheer chance, have the same acronyms as SCOTUS, POTUS, FLOTUS.
“This litigation campaign’s objectives are several, and include silencing dissenting voices on key issues of national policy…”
There certainly is enough of that going around.
I wonder if the Gestapo is gong to show up at my door because of my views on “Climate Change”
Welcome to government-sanctioned cancel culture. Big Tech and the Swamp have far more subtle and effective methods for squashing dissent than the Gestapo could have ever dreamed.
This approach seems to be as subtle as sticking a gun in someone’s ribs and demanding their wallet. We’ll see – I still think the result will be that energy firms will relocate. Invest in US horse breeding – it’s the transport of the future!
Their goal is to destroy America, so business relocating is a win.
Their goal is to destroy capitalism on a global scale, not just America, so business relocating is their failure or, at least, a setback. Doesn’t help America in the short term though.
Indeeed Richard.
The real irony is that the oil company mentioned above, now has a Chief Ex called Mr. Looney from County Kerry. His main aim is to run BP into the ground by stating it is a fully committed disciple of the global warming religion, and will be divesting away from grown up energy into the fairy land of renewables/unreliables. Maybe that should be un believables. Being a BP pensioner I am disgusted at what my fellow Irishman is being allowed to do to our company.
Not only that, but he is balls deep in the attempts to unseat the legitimate President of the United States by being party to withdrawing support for any Republican politician. Mind you with the number of Rinos around maybe that’s a blessing.
Also Mr, Soros failed to get a mention above as helping Bloomberg by installing “sleepers” in various US legal departments.
So yes we have a similar situation here in Britain where marxist NGO’s get undemocratic laws passed by our Quisling Tory party.
A lawyer employed by PBS recently proposed taking children away from anyone who supported Trump.
Can’t figure out if this deserves an upvote or a down vote!
The USA (and other countries) have more immediate problems. The corruption and treason of leftist politicians and their “bought” mainstream media is blatantly obvious to anyone with observational and deductive skills – that apparently excludes Democrat voters and their idiot clones in other countries.
The leftist leaders don’t really believe in their Climate-and-Covid scams – these are scary tactics used by wolves to stampede the sheep. This is the classic Zimbabwe / Venezuela strategy – destroy the economy, end democracy, and rule like a feudal dictator with absolute power – looking down on all the poor peasants. Your children and grandchildren will live like a Chinese serfs..
The gullibility of the sheep is truly remarkable – the latest scam was the Antifa-led invasion of the US Capital building, an obvious false-flag operation to discredit Trump and his supporters.- and even many idiot Republicans believed it and blamed Trump.
The Big Picture:
The global warming / climate change scam, the Covid-19 full-Gulag lockdown scam, the specious linkage of these two huge frauds, the many-million vote fraud, the stolen election, and the leftists’ “Final Solution”, the Marxist “Great Reset” – aka “Live like a Chinese peasant, under the boot of a dictator”.
Trump won by a landslide – Biden‘s rallies could not even fill a minivan.
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM PRESENTS: THE GREAT RESET— “YOU’LL OWN NOTHING, AND YOU’LL BE HAPPY.”
Sky News Australia exposes the “GREAT RESET”, the wild Marxist “Final Solution” from the World Economic Forum (WEF), as espoused by its founder Klaus Schwab (aka “Doctor Evil”) and a host of bizarre villains out of an Austin Powers movie.
(Schwab starts at 5:05)
Here is another video exposing the GREAT RESET – the ultimate scam.
Seriously good people, wake up – you are being conned by traitors and sleep-walked into slavery for your children and your grandchildren.
“Trump won by a landslide – Biden‘s rallies could not even fill a minivan.” Your first statement is an opinion, unsupported by any evidence, and denied by 60+ court cases, many under Republican-appointed judges. The second is just plain wrong, aka a lie.
The evidence was never investigated and denied by opinion. That tells all there was something to hide.
Why are the Democrats absolutely terrified of Trump if they legitimately won the election?
Why are they not acting like winners, but like a shoplifter who’s just felt his collar grabbed by store security?
Why were they so desperate to destroy the evidence which would have proven they won legitimately?
The steal is obvious to anyone with an IQ higher than a watermelon’s. So if Harris is allowed into the White House, the richest and most powerful country in the world will have a government that at least half the population know is completely illegitimate.
Nothing good is going to come of that.
Both of his statements were obviously hyperbole and intended to express his (strong) opinions. I’ve found people often characterize such differences of opinion as lies because then they can denounce the holder of that opinion as a liar and therefore “evil”. This makes it easier to justify “cancelling” and/or destroying that person, because obviously evil must be crushed without hesitation or mercy. This is a dangerous trend in our world today.
The courts denied that they had jurisdiction. That’s not the same thing as ruling on the facts. No matter how much you are told to believe otherwise.
To mcswell
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/11/25/video-dont-let-the-climate-grinches-ruin-your-holiday/#comment-3133855
[excerpt]
The ability to predict is the best objective means of assessing scientific competence, and the global warming alarmists have NO predictive track record – they have been 100% wrong about everything and nobody should believe these fraudsters – about anything!
“MacRae’s Maxim”:
“VIRTUALLY EVERY SCARY PREDICTION BY GLOBAL WARMING ALARMISTS IS FALSE.”
The Great Global Warming Fraud is a litmus test for basic intelligence – if you believe is catastrophic human-made global warming (aka “climate change”) hysteria, then you are an unscientific dolt, and no useful knowledge can be imparted to you.
This is your unfortunate personal affliction – kindly get help for your very personal turmoil and do not foist your false mania on others, especially schoolchildren. I suggest that you avoid children and small animals – you are seriously deranged and may even be dangerous. The Great Global Warming Fraud has no place in polite, intellectual company – it is a scary fiction, concocted by wolves to stampede the sheep. It is not real – be comforted by this fact.
Also to mcswell
Are you actually denying the existence of the WEF’s “Great Reset”?
Numerous prominent figures around the world have extolled this Brave New World, including senior US Democrats like John Kerry, who says that Biden is fully on board.
If you are unaware of their publicly-stated positions in favour of the Great Reset, then I cannot help you – you are beyond redemption.
MI Judge Orders Dem Sec of State To Release All Communications With Dominion, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/01/mi-judge-orders-dem-sec-state-release-communications-dominion-facebook-apple-amazon-google/
speaking of “plain wrong, aka a lie”, mcswell egages in that very same behavior with his “unsupported by any evidence, and denied by 60+ court cases” comment. The courts denied the cases not on the evidence/facts or lack there of, but on jurisdiction/standing and other technicalities. Saying you don’t have standing to bring a case or that a court doesn’t have the jurisdiction to hear a case says absolutely nothing about the merits or facts of the case.
Utterly false, not to overlook your intent to silence, falsely.
Allan stated it succinctly and provided some evidence.
Thanks for this, ALLAN MACRAE.
Well-stated Allan.
MICHAEL YON: ‘AGENT PROVOCATEUR’ TACTICS WERE SEEN AT JAN. 6 CAPITOL PROTEST
https://www.theepochtimes.com/michael-yon-agent-provocateur-tactics-were-seen-at-jan-6-capitol-protest_3654556.html
The throng of people who stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6 during the joint session of Congress was led by Antifa and its agent provocateurs who guided Trump supporters into the Capitol building, Michael Yon, a war correspondent who has covered hundreds of protests, told The Epoch Times’ Crossroads program.
Regarding the timeline of the Capitol event – The Capitol building invasion had already started while Trump will still speaking to his crowd of supporters. The timeline proves that blaming Trump for the Capitol invasion is just one more leftist Big Lie.
Be careful who you elect to govern – especially if their core competence is spreading blatant falsehoods and taking bribes from the Chinese Communist Party and the Former Soviet Union.You have elected traitors, wholly-owned by the sworn enemies of America and freedom.
We stand at the abyss. A Biden regime will be the end of freedom. Europe and Canada have already fallen far down that “poverty road to Venezuela”. If America falls, there will be nowhere left to run to.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/if-trump-is-guilty-of-incitement-then-so-are-half-the-democrats-in-congress
lizrow13246
6 hours ago
[excerpt]
I have reviewed several timelines of the Jan. 6 events (a good one is provided at The National Pulse by Thomas J. Farnan). The Trump speech was being televised, concurrent with FB and Twitter posts. At 1:09 pm, while Trump was still speaking, the Capitol police chief realized things were out of control, and called in the National Guard.
Also:
Major Twist in US Capitol Storming Might Have Gutted the Democrats’ Narrative on Trump Impeachment
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2021/01/14/oh-so-the-capitol-hill-riot-was-a-planned-attack-n2583122
JOHN SOLOMON: CAPITOL RIOT WAS A “PLANNED ATTACK,” CAN’T BLAME TRUMP; WHAT DID PELOSI AND MCCONNELL KNOW?
January 13, 2021
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2021/01/13/john_solomon_capitol_riot_was_a_planned_attack_cant_blame_trump_what_did_pelosi_mcconnell_know.html
The reporter said he would like to know what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the authorities knew about the attack beforehand. Solomon said he has “significant evidence” that the Capitol Police, FBI, and Congress had prior warning of a planned attack and it was not a spontaneous riot emanating from President Donald Trump’s speech that day.
“The question I have is what did Nancy Pelosi, what did Mitch McConnell know about these threats beforehand?” he asked. “If they didn’t know, it’s an intelligence failure of the police. If they did know, there’s something they didn’t tell us before we went into this impeachment round today.”
Candace Owen pointed out that Kavanaugh protestors seized Senate offices.
Yet, leftist leaders and democrat legislators never demanded the protestors be identified, prosecuted or punished. Indeed, they went out of their way to support the protests.
If Leftists lose this case, they’ll simply stack SCOTUS with 4 new Leftist judges to assure Leftist control SCOTUS for the next 100 years.
Leftists will then eliminate the filibuster rule, which will allow them to pass any Leftist legislation initiated, and to assure Leftist hold both the Executive and Legislative branches for the next 100 years, they’ll pass an amnesty bill granting citizenship to 30 million illegal aliens, 70% of whom will vote for Democrats…
Leftists have been working/waiting 120 years for this moment in history, and will not allow this opportunity to be squandered..
And to assure the damage of these Leftist policies are spun correctly, most dissenting voices will be censored and attacked for “hate” speech as they just did by shutting down Parler….
I wonder when WUWT will be targeted by Leftist thugs..
“May you live in interesting times.”~ an ancient Chinese curse..
They don’t need to stack the Supreme Court. It appears Trump stacked it for them, by putting three more Deep State justices in there.
I did wonder why the left didn’t object to the Republicans pushing Barrett in there so fast.
Mark-san:
All 3 of Trump’s SCOTUS appointments were of originalist judges.
John Roberts was an absolutely terrible pick by Bush.
Stacking SCOTUS means adding 4 additional seats for a total of 13 SCOTUS judges.
Historically, the Left bats 1,000 when picking Leftist SCOTUS judges, while the GOP bats around 400, which is why there hasn’t been a conservative SCOTUS in 70 years until Trump’s 3 appointments gave us one…
nominally gave us one. As you point out 1) John Roberts was an absolutely terrible pick. combine that with 2) Trump’s picks have a mixed record so far, and that unfortunately means that while it’s nominally a conservative court, it still makes some rather unconservative rulings.
Roberts, appointed by Bush and corrupted by Obama/Clintons/Epstein and possibly Bush is the real problem there.
“May you live in interesting times” is NOT a Chinese curse, ancient or otherwise. You can blame the Chinese for a lot of things but not this one. No-one knows for sure how long it’s been doing the rounds but it probably originated with a British diplomat over a hundred years ago. Other than that go right ahead!
Richard-san:
it’s almost certain COVID19 originated from China’s ONLY Level 4 Viral Lab in Wuhan, China.
The COVID19 cornavirus is from horseshoe bats that are indigenous to an area 1,500KM away from Wuhan China.
The Wuhan Viral Lab was conducting tests on the horseshoe-bat coronavirus when the outbreak occurred, and before the outbreak, this Wuhan lab was known by the international scientific community to be very poorly managed and had insufficient safety standards.
The Leftist MSM, of course, want to protect and cover for their comrades in communist China, and say you’re sinophobic if you think China caused the COVID19 pandemic…
Samurai sama, like I said, you can blame the Chinese for many things should you wish, but that particular saying can’t be laid at their feet. It’s in keeping with WUWT’s principles of correcting misapprehension and wrong ideas more than a sign of sinophilia.
Richard, the “attribution” has been a saying since long before Robert Kennedy popularized it in his 1966 speech (nearly half a decade ago). berating Samurai-san for using such a well known and popular saying is rather petty.
Not at all. Just providing accurate information. Just because it’s attributed to the Chinese in popular culture doesn’t make it so – anymore than kung fu panda is chinese in origin.
SAMURI and ALLAN MACRAE,
Does this ring a bell?
“First we will take Eastern Europe, then the masses of Asia. We will encircle the last bastion of capitalism, the United States of America. We will not need to fight. It will fall as ripe fruit into our hands”
Some guy called Lenin back in the 1920.s The only surprise is it took so long to turn America into a (ripe) banana republic.
Are we headed for the modern-day equivalent of the “Scopes Monkey Trial”? The whole issue of CAGW has been politicized and weaponized and now is stated to be “an existential threat and at the center of my administrations agenda” by the incoming President. One can only hope that he forgets this and moves on to some other nonsense. SCOTUS should deal with this directly and fairly, the new administration not so much. The George Floyd trial (died of 3 times the lethal limit of fentanyl while resisting police) starts in March, should take two months, so the court watcher junkies have something to get them through to Scopes II.
Yes, George Floyd overdosed. However, the police did fail to recognize that he was in distress because of the overdose. They’re supposed to be trained in recognizing that sort of thing. They could have done something besides kneel on his neck. They didn’t cause his death, but they certainly didn’t help.
Insufficient training rather than any malice has been obvious from the start. It won’t, of course, be part of the judgement – that will be completely political.
After the fact analysis always seems right.
How many arrests have you participated in?
None. How about you?
Hotscot? Any thoughts?
I do, however, know that police are supposed to be trained in recognizing such things. Perhaps these particular cops weren’t trained yet.
Have the public relations departments of any energy companies said anything about this yet? Or are they holding their fire?
With rare exceptions, energy companies in recent years have attempted to appease those who are trying to destroy them. It is a losing strategy that reflects a deficient intellect and a weak ethical base.
As I recently wrote to the Alberta government:
“By attempting to appease leftist extremists who seek to destroy the Alberta economy, successive Alberta governments have adopted a failed strategy that just makes us weaker and poorer.
You fight a good fight, Allan. If I ever get to Calgary again I hope to buy you an appropriate adult beverage.
Sounds good Ron.
Godspeed.
A few ways of looking at what’s going on, a coupla mine..
1) Would it be Off-The-Wall to suggest that “The Parasites Are Ki11ing Their Host”
Who invited them (all) in? Why are they here. What service where they originally asked to provide?
Is it beyond-the-bounds that a socially dysfunctional, lazy, buck-passing and belligerent people invited them in? But why so many?
If you’re even slightly aware of my ravings, you will know what causes those things/people.
2) There is/are, not least, ‘Good Intentions’
And and and, We All Want To Rule The World – to have our ‘moment of glory/fame’
Has a system been created where a majority believe they really can have a shot at that?
Or, do a majority think they can have a shot at it. Is that or is it not = Magical Thinking
Magic? isn’t that word used by the Disney Corporation a lot?
Or in TV/movies/fantasy-stories/video-games.
Is it that ‘something’ is causing that majority to confuse actual reality with fantasy. That they can all be = Superman.
If you’re even slightly aware of my ravings, you will know what causes those things/people.
(No, that was/is not an accidental repeat)
Still on the theme of Good Intentions, there was/is a theory that Ancient Rome fell apart because ‘Everyone wanted to be a Patrician = a Father of the City’
In the spirit of Political Correctness and equality, so came it.
In the vernacular, There Were More Chiefs Than Indians
And those who were not Patricians, were money grubbing hypocritical cronies.
Sound familiar?
Is that what we have here?
How long will ‘our’ Dark Age last. Rome clocked up nearly a millenium
Or, as is is increasingly obvious from the shit state that health, science and politics are in, maybe ‘our’ Dark Age has been ongoing for some little time already
If you’re even slightly aware of my ravings, you will know what causes those things/people.
(No, that was/is not another accidental repeat)
CS Lewis said best, as oft quoted around here
“”Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies“”
We do know what’s happening.
How the “Growth of Evil” quote go?
All That’s Required …. blah blah ….Good Men Do Nothing..
BTW – How was The Weather during The Dark Ages?
As best I understand, fairly settled and not especially inclement.
Apart from when the occasional volcano went off
Doesn’t it thus strike that, The Climate only changes (goes to pot) during ‘Light Ages’?
What’s going on there then?
Much of the population was better off in the so-called ‘Dark Ages’ than they were in the Roman Empire. For example, farmers no longer faced the death penalty for refusing to farm, they could just grow their own food rather than being forced to send most of it to Rome for the bread and circuses.
‘Dark Age’ is mostly a scam created by the left to refer to a world that was devoutly Christian and conservative. Because the left work for the ‘light bringer’.
And that world created the very kind of peoples required to start the Industrial Revolution through centuries of natural and legal selection which created a smart, competent and high-trust culture.
The SCOTUS has for some time been keen to protect States rights. My guess is they will say that where these are issues of local pollution, issues should be resolved in State Courts. OTOH all questions of international relations are a Federal matter, and so questions of climate are therefore a Federal matter. Having said that, forecasting what any Court will take it into its head to do is a mug’s game.
But the issues are not LOCAL pollution.
My recollection is that the EPA when originally established targeted NOx and particulate matter in combatting “air pollution”. That (e.g. smog) indeed was local.
But SCOTUS itself changed the game in allowing CO2 to be defined as “pollution” under EPA laws. CO2 of course is the subject of these torts. And the impact of CO2 in the plaintiffs arguments is definitely NOT local.
I don’t understand your argument, CO2 is clearly not local pollution, but Smog is. My guess is that the SCOTUS will rule along those lines, and for any party complaining about CO2, that is a Federal matter.
One of the problems for the Alarmists is that as they have become more visible, their arguments have received more scrutiny from people, so they will be facing a Court that has done its own reading, has thought about it in their own time, and is not so vulnerable to being blinded by fake science.
Yes, that’s logical. But there is nothing logical in these times. CO2 is the miracle molecule that can act politically like quantum behavior in being local and global at the same time and it is the act of seeing it in the eyes of activists when and where they say it is a problem that you must comply and bow down. Questioning that shaman behavior is no longer tolerated.
The intellectual calibre of the current SCOTUS is very good, and there’s no “Oh I don’t do science” about them. I feel optimistic that their decision (which may, or may not, resemble what I have outlined) will be sensible.
Sotomayer is the only one who I think is a fool. As judges are lawyers, many of whom who got promoted by assiduously kissing bottoms, that’s very good. I wish I could be so positive about the UK Supreme Court.
This US and A is a strange place indeed. The legislature responsible for permitting, regulating and taxing the distribution of a product can then sue the producer (note: not the user or beneficiary) for unproven, unquantifiable, yet to be encountered damage.
Surely said controlling authority must be at least as responsible for the damage?
What can we say but anywhere that women can vote but horses cannot will be riddled such paradoxes.
It’s not that strange. In the UK, for example, the government throws taxpayer money at ‘charities’ which then campaign for the government to do things that it wanted to do but couldn’t justify to the voters. The government can then use the PR the charities create to justify why it does things that the voters don’t want and wouldn’t vote for.
It’s all a huge scam.
Thank you for being on top of this issue. It sounds like they are storming the court system in a slow motion version of assault on the Capitol.
Lawyers scavenging around the mad enviro alarmist hoping the Courts will open the floodgates and access to all those petrodollars there in.
Anybody think that won’t be something the consumer will pay for?
Well I’m sure SCOTUS will do the right thing. I mean they never step away from making judgements in crucially important cases affecting the entire future of the nation, right?
what an appallingly badly written and fundamentally incorrect article.
Written by a lawyer who doesn’t understand the difference in a court of A vs B as opposed to B vs A.
Thanks to the person who posted the link to BP vs Mayor etc.
Heaven help us if this lawyer is on the side of the angels.
I am sure much of what is written is correct, but maybe it could be hung on the correct foundation and written in English?
Can you imagine presenting this in court? The opposition would merely say; ‘all very interesting, but you appear to be in the wrong court.’
edited; spelling demon
After reading about the case elsewhere because the author of this screed didn’t bother to explain it, any judge with half a brain would dismiss it as meritless. That they managed to find a local judge so astonishingly stupid or deranged with activist fervor to consider it is depressing. Those kinds of judges should be removed, impeached, whatever. If Baltimore is allowed to sue oil companies for sea level rise, what’s to stop anyone from suing their fellow citizens for exhaling carbon dioxide and contributing to sea level rise? It’s self-evidently ludicrous. The only appropriate response is to laugh these idiots out of court.