Alito Recuses Himself From Climate Case; Proves Public Pressure Can Sometimes Work

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is recusing himself
from a case involving fossil fuel companies, reversing
his earlier plans thanks to public pressure. 

Public pressure against injustice actually sometimes works. Even when it involves the Supreme Court. 

Per CNN:

"Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito announced Monday that he will recuse himself from a major climate change-related case the court is set to hear next week, following weeks of pressure from environmental groups that argued he was compromised by his financial holdings in the oil and gas industry."

Alito sent a letter to the court clerk saying he would not participate in the case, but did not explain the reasoning behind his decision. 

The case involves Boulder, Colorado and whether it can sue Suncor Energy and ExonMobil for damages caused by climate change. Or whether state laws are pre-empted by federal law and separation of powers principles in the Constitution. 

The Supreme Court case will have a big impact on similar legislation on other states, including Vermont. 

Even with Alito apparently out of the picture,  it's unclear whether the rest of the Supreme Court will side with Boulder. The Supreme Court hasn't really been friendly to environmental initiatives in recent years. 

Alito owns stock in ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66, among other energy holdings, CNN reports. 

In any event, Alito's turnaround is a bit of surprise. Back in May, a Supreme Court spokesman had said that since Alito doesn't have stock in the oil companies involved in the court case, he needn't recuse himself. 

Alito's recusal came after a lot of public pressure. As Scotusblog reports:

"In May, a coalition of left-leaning watchdog groups urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate Alito's involvement in the dispute, contending that his 'substantial holdings in individual oil and gas companies' among other issues, would 'undermine(e) public confidence in the impartiality of the Court.

They stated that Alito had 'previously recused from considering a petition brought by' the same companies involved in Suncor Energies, 'There is no apparent reason for this change in Justice Alito's recusal practices, and Alison provided no statement justifying his failure to recuse,' the groups wrote." 

There's a lot to complain about regarding our current U.S. Supreme Court, but this was at least a small victory in the name of fairness.

 

Vermont House Passes Superfund" Law, Could Become First In Nation

Vermont is now close to becoming the first state in the
nation to establish a climate "Superfund" law that would
demand money from oil giants to pay for climate-
related disasters, like last summer's flooding.

 Back on January 31, I told you about legislation in Vermont that would create a "Superfund" to pay for recovering from climate-related disasters in the Green Mountain State.  

The money would come from large firms like oil producers and others who emit or at least cause to emit huge amounts of greenhouse gases.

This week, the Vermont House was approved in Montpelier by a veto-proof majority.   It now goes to the Vermont Senate for a final review before landing on Gov Phil Scott's desk.

As Vermont Public reports, Scott has vowed to veto the bill, saying he's worried about the cost to taking Big Oil to court and how long it would take to pry money out of these corporations to pay for this Superfund thing.  

A few Republican legislators are also opposed to the proposal, saying we are all complicit, really. Did you drive to work this morning? Unless you have an EV, you emitted greenhouse gases purchased from Big Oil. 

A two-thirds vote in both the Senate and House would be needed to override the veto. The House vote this week is veto-proof if pretty much everybody there votes the same as they did this week after the potential veto. We'll have to see what the Senate does. The Senate did pass the preliminary version of the bill in March by a 26-3 vote. That's veto-proof if history repeats, which seems likely. 

There's no question that disasters made worse by climate change are costing Vermonters big bucks. Last summer's flooding is thought to have caused more than $1 billion in damage. Some people are still displaced from their homes because of that event. 

Other events in the past year, like another big flood in December and twin, powerful wind storms in January, added to the toll on Vermont. 

Meanwhile, most of the largest oil companies in the world raked in record profits over the past few years. 

Proponents of the climate Superfund want a piece of that pie to pay for bolstering ourselves against future climate disasters and paying for ones we've already had. 

If enacted, Vermont would become the first state to enact this type of law. Because we are first, climate activists are watching this whole thing closely.  They hope it opens the floodgates for more such laws elsewhere. Already, other states like California, Maryland, Massachusetts and New York are considering similar bills.   

We're getting close to the end of the Vermont legislative session for this year, so the final denouement is coming on this soon. 

So, watch this space for an update on whether this gets enacted or not.