Climate took center stage at the Supreme Court on Oct. 5, when the justices heard oral arguments in Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County — a case UCLA environmental law experts are closely watching. While the city and county of Boulder are suing oil companies Suncor and Exxon for damages from climate change-related disasters, that’s not the issue before the Supreme Court. The court could rule on Suncor and Exxon’s argument that federal law effectively prevents the case (and dozens of cases like it) from going forward in state courts.

UCLA environmental law professors Alejandro Camacho and Cara Horowitz analyzed the arguments and potential impacts of the case this month. Excerpts below:

Horowitz considered potential outcomes, including:

  • “Because the Supreme Court elected to hear this case now and not in, say, three years, its decision could — depending on its outcome and rationale — cut off many of those other cases before they’ve gotten very far down the road, too.”

Camacho analyzed a half dozen potential arguments and projected five possible rulings. Among his comments:

  • "The Clean Air Act contains no express preemption of tort suits. In fact, the statute includes 'savings clauses' that affirmatively preserve state authority and common law rights."
  • "No federal statute has ever preempted a state claim of deception. The Clean Air Act regulates what companies put into the air. It says nothing about what they told the public."

Media are encouraged to quote from Camacho's and Horowitz’s comments here and in their original analysis, or reach out to request an interview. Camacho is a professor of law at the UCLA School of Law and affiliated with the school’s Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. He has studied environmental law throughout history and co-authored the book, "Lessons for a Warming Planet: A Vital History of US Environmental Law." Horowitz is the director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the UCLA School of Law. She can address the global context for this case.