Everything you need to know about ranked-choice voting in one spot. Click to learn more!

Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search


Supreme Court of the United States
Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County
Docket number: 25-170
Term: 2026
Court: United States Supreme Court
Important dates
Pending
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts • Clarence Thomas • Samuel Alito • Sonia Sotomayor • Elena Kagan • Neil Gorsuch • Brett Kavanaugh • Amy Coney Barrett • Ketanji Brown Jackson

Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County is a case scheduled for argument before the Supreme Court of the United States during the court's October 2026-2027 term.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • The issue: The case concerns the Clean Air Act. Click here to learn more about the case's background.
  • The questions presented: "1. Whether federal law precludes state-law claims seeking relief for injuries allegedly caused by the effects of interstate and international greenhouse-gas emissions on the global climate.

    2. Whether this court has statutory and Article III jurisdiction to hear this case."[1]

  • The outcome: The appeal is pending adjudication before the U.S. Supreme Court.


    • The case came on a writ of certiorari to the Colorado Supreme Court. To review the lower court's opinion, click here.

    Background

    Case summary

    The following are the parties to this case:[2]

    • Petitioner: Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc., et al.
      • Legal counsel: Kannon K. Shanmugam (Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP)
    • Respondent: County Commissioners of Boulder County, et al.
      • Legal counsel: Kevin K. Russell (Russell & Woofter LLC), Marco Benjamin Simons (Law Office of Marco B. Simons)

    The following summary of the case was published by Oyez, a free law project from Cornell’s Legal Information Institute, Justia, and the Chicago-Kent College of Law:[3]

    “

    Boulder County and the City of Boulder (collectively, "Boulder") sued Exxon Mobil Corporation and three Suncor Energy entities, alleging that the companies' decades-long production, promotion, refining, marketing, and sale of fossil fuels knowingly drove climate change and caused concrete harm to Boulder's property and residents. Boulder further alleges that the defendants compounded this harm by intentionally misleading the public about fossil fuels' role in accelerating climate change. The alleged injuries include flood damage, increased wildfire risk, drought, and physical damage to public buildings and infrastructure—costs Boulder claims it has absorbed and will continue to absorb.

    To recover those costs, Boulder asserts state common law claims for public nuisance, private nuisance, trespass, unjust enrichment, and civil conspiracy. Critically, Boulder seeks only monetary damages—not an injunction against fossil fuel operations or any form of emissions regulation. The defendants argue that these state-law claims are precluded because federal law—specifically the Clean Air Act, the federal common law of interstate pollution, and the federal foreign affairs power—occupies the field and bars state courts from adjudicating harms rooted in interstate and international greenhouse-gas emissions.

    Boulder filed suit in state court; the defendants removed the case to federal court, but after extensive litigation that included appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and two certiorari petitions in the U.S. Supreme Court, the Tenth Circuit affirmed the remand order and the case returned to the Boulder County District Court, which denied the defendants' motion to dismiss on preemption grounds. The defendants then petitioned the Supreme Court of the State of Colorado for extraordinary review under C.A.R. 21, which that court accepted and resolved in Boulder's favor on May 12, 2025.[4]

    		”

    To learn more about this case, see the following:

    Timeline

    • January 26, 2026: The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.
    • August 8, 2025: Suncor Energy Inc. appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
    • May 12, 2025: The Colorado Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the district court and remanded the case to the district court.

    Questions presented

    The petitioner presented the following questions to the court:[1]

    Questions presented:
    “ 1. Whether federal law precludes state-law claims seeking relief for injuries allegedly caused by the effects of interstate and international greenhouse-gas emissions on the global climate.

    2. Whether this court has statutory and Article III jurisdiction to hear this case.[4]

    		”

    Oral argument

    Audio

    Audio of the case will be posted here when it is made available.

    Transcript

    A transcript of the case will be posted here when it is made available.

    Outcome

    The case is pending adjudication before the U.S. Supreme Court.

    October term 2026-2027

    See also: Supreme Court cases, October term 2026-2027

    The Supreme Court will begin hearing cases for the term on October 5, 2026. The court's yearly term begins on the first Monday in October and lasts until the first Monday in October the following year. The court generally releases the majority of its decisions by mid-June.[5]


    See also

    External links

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Supreme Court of the United States, "25-170 SUNCOR ENERGY INC. V. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF BOULDER COUNTY QP", February 23, 2026
    2. ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, "No. No. 25-170 Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County" accessed March 25, 2026
    3. ↑ Oyez, "Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County", accessed March 25, 2026
    4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
    5. ↑ SupremeCourt.gov, "The Supreme Court at Work: The Term and Caseload," accessed January 24, 2022
    Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Suncor_Energy_Inc._v._County_Commissioners_of_Boulder_County&oldid=11150830"