Chevron Corp. v. County of San Mateo

On April 24, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court denied fossil fuel industry defendants’ petitions for writ of certiorari seeking review of decisions affirming remand orders that sent climate change cases brought by state and local governments back to state courts. The fossil fuel companies had asked the Court to consider whether there was federal jurisdiction over state-law claims seeking redress for injuries allegedly caused by the effects of interstate or transboundary greenhouse gas emissions on the global climate because federal common law necessarily governs such claims. Justice Alito did not participate in the consideration of or decision on the petitions.

Briefing was completed on February 14, 2023 for fossil fuel companies’ petition for writ of certiorari seeking review of the Ninth Circuit’s affirmance of remand orders in cases brought by the County of San Mateo and other California local governments. The case originally was distributed for the justices’ conference on March 3 but was rescheduled on February 27; a new date was not noted on the docket.

Fossil fuel companies filed a petition for writ of certiorari seeking the Supreme Court’s review of the Ninth Circuit's decision affirming the remand of the California local governments' cases to state court. The fossil fuel companies presented the following question: “Whether a federal district court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 over nominally state-law claims seeking redress for injuries allegedly caused by the effect of transboundary greenhouse-gas emissions on the global climate, on the ground that federal law necessarily and exclusively governs such claims.”