The Docket

The Supreme Court granted cert on February 23 to decide whether federal law bars state-court climate tort claims entirely. Oral arguments are expected October 2026, a decision by mid-2027. Over 30 pending cases hang on the outcome. The Court also asked both sides to brief whether it has jurisdiction to hear the case at all, a question that could send the whole thing back without resolving anything.

Following the Plaquemines ruling, 11 of 42 Louisiana parish lawsuits against more than 200 oil and gas companies move to federal court. The other 31 remain in state court, for now. Parishes have lost over 2,000 square miles of coastline in a century. Partial settlements with Freeport McMoRan, BP, and Shell total hundreds of millions so far. A pending ConocoPhillips deal would add more. The aggregate damages these suits represent are staggering. Whether they're heard by local juries or federal judges will determine what fraction is ever recovered.

Senate Bill 1439 passed Oklahoma's Senate 40-7 on March 10 and was heading to the governor's desk as of April 20. The bill would prohibit civil lawsuits against fossil fuel companies for climate-related harms, including fraud claims. This isn't a court ruling. It's a legislature deciding the question shouldn't be asked. Oklahoma is part of a coordinated wave: similar bills have advanced in at least 11 states. Utah has already signed two into law.

Only two states have seen climate cases survive industry motions to dismiss. Both courts found the suits target deceptive marketing conduct, not emissions regulation, a distinction that has proven decisive. On April 15, a federal judge threw out the Trump DOJ's attempt to preemptively block Hawaii's case, citing federalism and lack of standing. Colorado's case now heads to SCOTUS as Boulder v. Suncor. Hawaii's narrower advertising-injury theory may prove more legally durable precisely because it asks for less.

The EPA's February 2026 rescission of the greenhouse gas endangerment finding created an unintended legal wrinkle. For years, industry has argued the Clean Air Act preempts state climate suits. But if the EPA now says it lacks authority to regulate greenhouse gases, the foundation of that preemption argument erodes. The complication: rescission could also revive federal common law claims, potentially strengthening preemption from a completely different direction. Legal experts genuinely disagree on which way this cuts. The administration dismantling federal climate authority may be weakening the very shield industry built its defense around.

On March 25, Maryland's Supreme Court dismissed climate suits filed by Baltimore, Annapolis, and Anne Arundel County against 26 fossil fuel companies. The majority held that these suits amount to regulating interstate emissions, something only the federal government can do. The ruling deepens the split with Hawaii and Colorado, where courts accepted similar deceptive-marketing arguments that Maryland rejected outright. Two justices dissented, calling the majority's framing "compelling, if misleading." The most recent state-level door to close.

Louisiana loses roughly 17 square miles of coast per year. Plaquemines Parish filed suit in 2013. Thirteen years of litigation, zero restoration dollars disbursed. Federal remand now resets the procedural clock. The wetlands operate on a different calendar entirely, and they are not pausing.

Four hours of jury deliberation produced a $745 million award. Louisiana's 50-year coastal master plan carries a $50 billion price tag. Even fully collected, the verdict funds a sliver. At current spending of $1.3 billion annually, the plan needs 38 years to execute. Cost escalation not included.

More than 20 insurers have pulled out of Louisiana since 2020. Eleven went insolvent in a 14-month stretch. Premiums through the state's last-resort carrier surged tenfold. Brookings research published April 16 confirms the weight lands hardest on low-income Black and Latino homeowners already navigating deep barriers to coverage.

Residential properties exposed to flood risk carry $121 to $237 billion in unpriced overvaluation nationally, per Gourevitch et al. in Nature Climate Change. Gulf and Atlantic coasts are the epicenter. Low-income households face up to 10% loss in home equity. No court ruling required for this repricing to proceed.

Louisiana lost $720 million in BRIC mitigation projects to federal defunding. Litigation moved to a forum structurally distanced from the affected community. Private insurers fled. No single institution tracks all three withdrawals together. Without intervention, projected annual flood damage nationally rises from $15.2 billion to $24.3 billion.