The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case of major fossil fuel firms, and an industry trade association attempted to get a lawsuit brought by Minnesota.
The lawsuit accusing them of exacerbating climate change was denied a move from state court to federal court, the preferred venue for the energy industry.
The justices were requested by Exxon Mobil Corp., Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Institute to examine a ruling rendered in March by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is located in St. Louis. That court determined that the case, which was initially filed in state court and accused the energy industry of decades of dishonest marketing aimed at undermining climate science and the public's knowledge of the risks associated with burning fossil fuels, belonged in state court.
Many similar appeals were effectively sent back to state court, which is frequently thought to be more accommodating to plaintiffs than federal court, after the justices last year declined to consider them. The cases had been filed in California, Colorado, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Maryland, and other states.
Attorney General Keith Ellison of Minnesota said in a statement on Monday that the ruling is consistent with other rulings made by courts around the nation and will now permit the case to move forward toward a state court trial.
Eight U.S. appeals courts have upheld lower court rulings that remanded comparable climate cases to state courts. These judges generally concluded that because lawsuits only issue state law claims, federal courts lack jurisdiction over them.
Energy companies and the American Petroleum Institute, an oil and gas lobby group accused of assisting in the coordination of the industry's purported deception, have argued that federal jurisdiction is appropriate due to the national and international significance of climate change.
