Washington (AP)-The Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit of Republican Procurators General on Monday in 19 states aimed at blocking climate change suits against the oil and gas industry by democratic guided states.
The judges acted on an unusual republican effort to make a lawsuit in the Supreme Court on the use of their own constitutional courts by the Democratic States to sue fossil fuel companies for misleading the public about the risks of their products that contribute to climate change.
The Supreme Court usually only hears an appeal, but the Constitution gives the court authority to hear original court cases against each other.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito said they would have let the lawsuit continue for the time being. The judges do not have the discretion to reject the complaint at this stage, Thomas wrote in a different opinion that did not deal with the earnings of the claim.
The complaint of the Republicans, led by Alabama Procurer -General Steve Marshall, claims that the Democratic states are trying to dictate national energy policy and increase energy costs throughout the country.
The Supreme Court has so far also rejected the profession by the energy companies that the judges want to get to the issue.
The lawsuits that have been brought by dozens of national and local authorities claim that companies have misled fossil fuels the public about how their products could contribute to the climate crisis. The lawsuits claim billions of dollars in damage caused by things such as serious storms, forest fires and rising sea levels.
The Republican action tried to stop specifically to stop lawsuits from California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
Only the federal government can arrange the rapid gas emissions and states have no power to apply their own laws to a worldwide atmosphere that extends much further than their limits.
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