By Karen Savage
Several fossil fuel giants want the U.S. Supreme Court to make its upcoming review of climate cases applicable to a wider range of those cases, filing briefs urging the court to include cases filed by Rhode Island and several California communities.
The companies—Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Marathon and several other energy companies—last week petitioned the high court, asking it to reverse rulings by the First and Ninth Circuits that have sent those cases back to state court.
The high court has already granted review of a lower court’s decision to place the Baltimore case in state court and oral arguments are scheduled for Jan. 19. The companies are asking the court to hold the new petitions pending that ruling and then dispose of them “in a manner consistent with its decision in that case.” In other words, the companies hope the court sends all of the similar cases filed around the country to federal court, where they believe they will be dismissed.
The newest petitions, which were spearheaded by Chevron attorney Ted Boutrous, a partner with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, mirror a similar request made by Exxon and Suncor last month in a case filed by communities in Colorado.
The companies’ Colorado, California and Rhode Island petitions all involve the same technical, legal question they presented in a case filed against many of the same companies by Baltimore.
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