Republican AGs Ask Want Supreme Court to Address Hawaii Climate Change Case

A group of Republican Attorneys General are asking the Supreme Court to step up and take on their fight.

The AGs are collectively looking to fight back against a suit that was filed by Hawaii against several fossil fuel companies.

According to the plaintiffs in the case, these companies did not properly inform consumers regarding the impact of their products on the environment.

Time to Fight

Dating back to 2020, Honolulu sued Exxon and Chevron, among other fossil fuel companies, for not warning consumers about the effects of their respective products regarding global warming.

The city claimed that these companies should be required to pay billions to Hawaii for impacting different weather events, sea level conditions, heat waves, and flooding.

The companies appealed to Hawaii’s Supreme Court, but the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.

Now a group of GOP AGs have collectively joined an amicus brief to get the Supreme Court to take on the case.

There are now 20 states that have signed on to the brief, which is being led by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.

The filing states, "The grave threat these suits pose to equal sovereignty and our Nation’s energy infrastructure are reason enough for this Court to grant review.”

The brief concludes, "The Court should act before state courts issue preliminary relief that could trigger a national emergency or fashion a patchwork of new taxes on the Nation’s energy system that would make life harder for every American.”

Marshall later told Fox News, "They're attempting to do it through friendly forums, in this case, state court in Hawaii. And the people of Alabama absolutely object to a state court judge in Hawaii ultimately determining how it is that we deal with the fossil fuel industry here in this country.

"What we see here is the use of a damages verdict to either change the behavior of fossil fuel companies or exponentially increase the cost of energy to the citizens of the United States.”

Honolulu now has a deadline of May 1 for its response, with a final brief deadline of May 15.

The Supreme Court is expected to make its decision as to whether it will take the case or not by June.