Supreme Court climate showdown jolted by Alito's last-minute decision

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has withdrawn from a major climate liability dispute, Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, just days before the justices were due to hear arguments. Court clerk Scott Harris notified the lawyers on both sides by letter on Monday that Alito was stepping aside. No reason was given, and none has been made public. The case was set to open the court's 2026-27 term and asks whether Boulder, Colorado, may rely on state tort law to sue oil and gas companies over their alleged part in causing climate change, according to Fox News.

Republicans have criticized the litigation, contending that Colorado officials are turning the courts into a tool for advancing their environmental goals. Steve Cox, a former Alaska attorney general who now serves as counsel to Governor Mike Dunleavy, said on a Tuesday conference call that advocates are pursuing coordinated public nuisance and mass tort suits in state courts to reach outcomes without going through elected officials. O. H. Skinner, a former Arizona solicitor general who directs the Alliance for Consumers, said on the same call that the dispute is not about climate science but about whether courts should act as the country's main policymakers. He acknowledged that Alito did not make his choice lightly, though he called a justice's absence "never good for the court."

Summarized by PolitiKool from Fox News’s reporting. Read the full story at Fox News →