- Alabama AG Steve Marshall, joined by 24 other Republican AGs, filed an amicus curiae brief urging the Supreme Court of Maryland to dismiss three consolidated climate lawsuits brought by Maryland local governments against major oil and gas companies. The suits allege that fossil fuel production and deceptive marketing have caused local climate-related harms.
- In their brief, the AGs argue that state and local governments cannot use their own laws or courts to regulate global fossil fuel emissions, given the interstate and international implications, and they contend that Maryland law cannot govern out-of-state emissions under basic principles of federalism and state sovereignty. The AGs further warn that allowing the lawsuits to proceed would enable a single state to set national energy policy, thereby undermining other states’ ability to pursue traditional energy development and implement their own environmental priorities.
- The AGs ask that the court affirm the lower court’s dismissal of the lawsuits.