Attorney General Clark Joins Court Brief Filing in Climate Case Before Supreme Court

Attorney General Clark participated in a multistate coalition of attorneys general in filing a court brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, urging the court to follow longstanding jurisdictional rules and preserve the role of state courts in resolving state common law claims.

The case stems from a lawsuit filed by Boulder County and the City of Boulder against several fossil fuel companies seeking damages for alleged harms related to climate change. The companies asked the Supreme Court to review the case before Colorado's courts have finished considering it. In addition to agreeing to hear the appeal, the Supreme Court directed the parties to address whether it has the authority to hear the case at this stage of the litigation.

The coalition contends that the Supreme Court should first determine whether it has the authority to hear the case. If it does not, the lawsuit should continue in Colorado's courts. The attorneys general say following that process protects the longstanding role of state courts.

The attorneys general also argue in the brief that the court's decision could affect far more than this case. States across the country rely on their courts to decide a range of state common law claims, and the coalition warns that allowing federal courts to intervene before state court proceedings are complete and decided on their merits would impact a range of cases well beyond the climate litigation brought here.

The brief further explains that states should not lose their authority to apply state law simply because a case involves issues that cross state lines. The attorneys general say the Constitution does not automatically prevent states from hearing these claims.

Finally, the coalition notes that state courts already have well-established legal rules for determining whether claims should proceed. Those decisions, the attorneys general say, should be made through the normal judicial process rather than through a broad new federal rule that prevents state law claims from proceeding in state courts

The brief was filed by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai'I, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.