Supreme Court Architect Leonard Leo Demands Justices Shield Big Oil From Historic Climate Trial [View all]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/supreme-court-big-oil-leonard-leo-climate-change-trial-1235031027/

Leonard Leo is known as the architect of the Supreme Court for good reason: He helped Donald Trump pick three Supreme Court justices, and his dark money network led PR campaigns to install five of its six conservative justices. Leo’s network also funds politicians and organizations pressing the court to take up certain cases and rule specific ways.

This approach has been enormously successful, culminating in an end to federal protections for abortion rights and a $1.6 billion donation to Leo’s network. Now, Leo’s operation is upping the ante: It’s leading a public-facing campaign saying the Supreme Court “needs to take up” Honolulu’s historic lawsuit against major oil companies, and shield Big Oil companies from a trial over climate-related damages.

In 2020, Honolulu sued major oil and gas companies, accusing them of knowing for decades that burning fossil fuels would damage the climate, and concealing that information from the public. The lawsuit alleges oil companies violated public and private nuisance laws, as well as laws requiring them to warn about the harms caused by their products — and it demands the companies pay damages to make up for the costs to property and infrastructure.

The defendants — which include Aloha Petroleum, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Marathon Petroleum, Phillips 66, Shell, and Sunoco — have fought for years to block the Honolulu lawsuit from moving forward, arguing that the city is wrongfully seeking to regulate interstate and international greenhouse gas emissions, and that the federal Clean Air Act should preempt state law.