{"id":176,"date":"2026-06-17T12:36:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T12:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=176"},"modified":"2026-06-17T12:36:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T12:36:46","slug":"blue-state-attorneys-general-tilt-the-playing-field-to-gain-edge-in-climate-change-litigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=176","title":{"rendered":"Blue-State Attorneys General Tilt the Playing Field to Gain Edge in Climate Change Litigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Attorneys general in blue states across the U.S. are urging the Federal Judicial Center to reinstate its biased \u201cclimate science\u201d chapter in the group\u2019s judicial reference manual, failing to mention the signatories are plaintiffs in dozens of consequential climate lawfare cases.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=174\">Trump-Backed Mike Collins Prevails over Kemp-Backed Candidate in Georgia Primary Runoff<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In a letter from earlier this month signed by a coalition of more than two dozen Democratic attorneys general and city legal officers, the group claims the removal undermines the FJC\u2019s purpose, raises concerns over partisan-endorsed censorship, and \u201charms our judicial system, as judges and litigants are left without impartial, peer-reviewed information on complex and crucial scientific issues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The section was originally removed following concerns over deep conflicts of interest, biased information, and concerns it \u201cwould tip the scales in favor of left-leaning policies that would be the final nail in the coffin of American-produced energy,\u201d 27 attorneys general previously wrote, warning FJC about the implications of the chapter. One week later, the FJC announced it would not be including the section in its most recent manual.<\/p>\n<p>The FJC is a taxpayer-funded nonprofit created by Congress to advise the courts on complicated scientific issues. Every year, the group publishes a reference manual, covering various scientific issues that may arise throughout litigation.<\/p>\n<p>This most recent letter, coming from the other side of the aisle, is addressed to FJC Director Robin L. Rosenberg on behalf of signatories who claim to be concerned about the climate and the potential effects of alleged climate change. The signatories leave out an important detail: Their involvement with massive climate cases in their jurisdictions.<\/p>\n<p>Hawaii Attorney General Anne E. Lopez, for example, signed the letter while a major climate lawfare case is pending in her state. She filed a lawsuit against seven major fossil fuel companies \u2014 including ExxonMobil and Chevron \u2014 alleging they failed to appropriately warn consumers about their products\u2019 contribution to climate change and the associated dangers. The suit is seeking compensatory, punitive, and natural resource damages.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration\u2019s Department of Justice previously tried to preemptively shoot down the climate case, which former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi described as \u201cburdensome and ideologically motivated.\u201d The Hawaii Supreme Court, however, rejected the federal government\u2019s attempt, allowing Hawaii to move forward with its crusade against Big Oil.<\/p>\n<p>The Hawaii case, as well as others in dozens of states represented by the signatories, carry significant implications for the future of the fossil fuel industry and the broader economy. These cases, which fall under the category of tort liability, essentially work as an indirect carbon tax on the consumer. Carbon taxes are historically extremely difficult to pass through traditional democratic processes, so climate activists have instead resorted to punitive legislation to extract costs from fossil fuel providers. If successful, energy companies will owe billions of dollars in damages to whatever locality sued them. When push comes to shove, and these companies are forced to pay up, costs will be passed on to the consumer.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=172\">MLB Issues Warning to S.F. Giants Players Who Wrote Bible Verses on \u2018Pride\u2019 Night Caps<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In New York State, Governor Kathy Hochul signed the \u201cpolluter pays\u201d New York Climate Change Superfund Act into law, requiring energy companies to pay a collective $75 billion over the next 25 years. The state\u2019s attorney general, Letitia James, is a signatory as well. Payments toward the fund are set to begin this September, and are intended to \u201crequire companies that have contributed significantly to the buildup of climate-warming greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to bear a share of the costs of needed infrastructure investments to adapt to climate change,\u201d the law reads. There are currently pending lawsuits to overturn the act.<\/p>\n<p>The DOJ has argued against the validity of the suits and policies, citing federal supremacy in controlling greenhouse gas emissions. In Minnesota, for example, Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a suit in 2020 against ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Institute, vowing to move forward with the case \u201cbecause Big Oil has pulled every procedural trick in the book to delay facing the consequences of their unlawful actions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On a state-to-state basis, determining actual harm a company has caused is almost impossible, especially when these cases are billed as a \u201cpublic nuisance\u201d tort liability suit. Traditionally, in these types of cases, there are tangible issues to correct, like cleaning up an oil spill from a specific factory. Alleged climate change, however, is a different story.<\/p>\n<p>In <em>Board of County Commissioners of Boulder County v. Suncor Energy (U.S.A.), Inc.<\/em>, for example, the energy companies being sued are not present in the county representing the plaintiff \u2014 the alleged \u201cnuisance\u201d the companies\u2019 products and practices have created applies equally to any jurisdiction across the globe.<\/p>\n<p>If these climate cases prevail, in part because judges are making judgments based on the \u201cclimate science\u201d chapter, it would open a Pandora\u2019s box, allowing \u201cevery locality in the country to sue essentially anyone in the world,\u201d according to a letter \u2014 previously signed by 100 members of Congress \u2014 urging the Colorado Supreme Court to throw out the Boulder case.<\/p>\n<p>Among the attorneys general and legal officers who signed the letter, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont, plus the District of Columbia and City of Chicago, are all included. In all of these jurisdictions, there is an active climate lawfare case.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=170\">FIFA Goes Looking for Discrimination in the Wrong Place<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than two dozen Democratic AGs and city legal officers signed a letter insisting the FJC reinstate its biased &#8216;climate science&#8217; chapter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Blue-State Attorneys General Tilt the Playing Field to Gain Edge in Climate Change Litigation - American Housing Transition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=176\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blue-State Attorneys General Tilt the Playing Field to Gain Edge in Climate Change Litigation - 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