The Supreme Court’s decision to hear a climate liability case brought by local governments against energy companies is focusing renewed attention on whether federal law preempts state-law claims related to climate change. While observers are analyzing prior preemption rulings for clues about how the justices may rule, the outcome is far from certain given the fact-specific nature of these disputes.
“You can’t necessarily accurately predict how a justice is going to vote by just knowing that a case is a preemption case,” Bracewell’s Peter Siegal told Landmark.
“So, the question becomes: What prism is any given justice looking at the case through?”