Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: SCOTUS appears torn over climate case

SCOTUS appears torn over climate case

Oct 05, 2026

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THE CATCH-UP

BULLETIN: “White House blocks Politico from Air Force One amid press access lawsuit,” by CNN’s Brian Stelter: “A Politico spokesperson confirmed that the publication was excluded from the out-of-town travel pool … The Trump administration appears to be justifying these new restrictions by saying that access to the White House complex is different than access to tight spaces like Air Force One. … Monday’s action against Politico will likely be incorporated into the next legal filing by CNN, MS NOW and Politico.”

People protest in front of the US Supreme Court as the court considers the Suncor v. Boulder case in Washington, DC, on October 5, 2026. The US Supreme Court hears a climate case that could upend dozens of lawsuits aimed at making polluters pay for their role in global warming and allegedly deceiving the public about the dangers of fossil fuels. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images)

Protesters advocate for Boulder, Colorado's ability to sue oil companies outside the Supreme Court today. | Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

SCOTUS WATCH: The Supreme Court sounded torn over a major climate change case that kicked off its new term today, with the outcome somewhat hard to predict based on the justices’ questions from the bench.

Boulder, Colorado, needs only four of their votes to win, as Justice Samuel Alito’s recusal means a deadlock would leave in place a lower court’s decision for the city. The liberal justices seemed likely to provide three of those votes, drawing comparisons to massive litigation against tobacco and opioid companies. Justice Brett Kavanaugh came across as the strongest voice siding with Exxon Mobil and Suncor Energy, the companies Boulder sued. Chief Justice John Roberts had tough questions for both sides, and other conservative justices were similarly difficult to read.

At stake is the potential for municipalities around the country to bring lawsuits against fossil fuel companies, seeking to hold them financially responsible for the damaging effects of climate change. If the court ruled broadly, many suits similar to Boulder’s could hit the judiciary — or be blocked from proceeding altogether. Dozens are already working their way through the legal system currently. Billions of dollars could ultimately hang in the balance.

Roberts asked Boulder’s lawyers whether a ruling in their favor would mean that immediately, “a municipality in every single state will file a lawsuit that will probably copy your pleadings.”

Though climate change is the foundation of the case, arguments at the court today centered more on technical legal questions: chiefly whether such a lawsuit can be brought in state court or is prevented by federal law. The Trump administration has sided with the companies in saying it cannot, since air pollution is an interstate problem whose regulation falls to the federal government, in a reversal from the Biden administration’s position.

And there’s a chance the Supreme Court could avoid a ruling on the merits altogether. Some justices began the day by questioning whether they have the jurisdiction to make a decision, since litigation is still ongoing in Colorado state courts.

“If the court can’t form a majority, dozens of climate cases across the country would continue forward with looming question marks about their legality,” POLITICO’s Lesley Clark and Alex Guillén report.

More from the high court: The justices declined a number of cases today, perhaps none higher-profile than an appeal from middle-school Michiganders who were told to take off their “Let’s Go Brandon” sweatshirts. An appeals court had sided with the school district, which the family claimed had violated their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

The Supreme Court also rejected an appeal from Dylann Roof, the convicted mass murderer at a Black church in South Carolina. More from CNN

But the court’s busy season is just getting started. For the next couple months, the big question looming over a court that says it wants to remain out of politics is how the justices rule on any potential emergency motions related to the election, NYT’s Ann Marimow and Abbie VanSickle report. The justices have also been reluctant to green-light big changes to election administration too close to November. But post-election legal fights to settle contests with tight margins could flood in, as both parties get prepared for lawsuits over claims of fraud or improper interventions.

Good Monday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.

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7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. BLEEDING CUTS: In war-torn Sudan, 473,300 people have now lost access to health care, nutrition support and other life-saving interventions in the wake of U.S. foreign aid cuts, the International Rescue Committee told Playbook. Support for the programs from the U.S. ended in July, and the IRC’s bridge funding ran out Friday — amid a broader pullback in aid from many countries. Several dozen facilities have now been forced to close, with the worst impacts in Darfur, as Sudan faces the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

2. INCOMING: At his Nebraska rally today, Trump will roll out a new executive order to try to yank diesel costs lower, POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill and James Bikales scooped. Though he’s not springing for a diesel export ban, Trump will have the Treasury Department examine diesel taxes and spur states to expand red-dyed diesel — all part of a pre-midterm effort to help farmers and others struggling with high fuel prices.

3. TRAIL MIX: Texas AG Ken Paxton raised a major $18 million haul in the third quarter, doubling his Q2 take as Republicans try to pump in enough money to hold the Texas Senate seat, POLITICO’s Samuel Benson scooped.

More big money: The cryptocurrency industry super PAC Fairshake announced it’ll bolster 32 House candidates — 19 Republicans and 13 Democrats — in the final month of the campaign, per POLITICO’s Jasper Goodman. Some of the biggest pro-crypto sums, more than $1 million for each, will go to Reps. French Hill (R-Ark.), Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), Janelle Bynum (D-Ore.), Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) and Derek Tran (D-Calif.).

Bringing in the big guns: Barack Obama will campaign with Abdul El-Sayed and Jocelyn Benson at a Detroit rally Oct. 24, per The Detroit News’ Craig Mauger. And Trump will campaign with Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) in Youngstown on Oct. 12, barely a week after his last rally in Ohio, The Hill’s Julia Manchester scooped.

The Epstein election: A panoply of Senate Majority PAC and other Democratic ads this cycle have tried to tie Republicans to the Jeffrey Epstein files or the “Epstein class,” as SMP’s internal polling shows the messaging can meaningfully move the needle for Dems, POLITICO’s Andrew Howard reports. More such ads are on the way. And Colorado Democrat Jessica Killin today launched an ad in which Virginia Giuffre’s family says to camera that GOP Rep. Jeff Crank refused to meet with them, NYT’s Lisa Lerer scooped. Crank’s office accused Killin of “preying on a grieving family.”

4. WAR REPORT: The Iranian strike on Port Shuaiba in March, which killed six U.S. troops, has left their Gold Star families and other soldiers at the facility demanding more answers from the Army, AP’s Jack Brook and colleagues report in a big investigation. Some question whether leadership failed to heed warnings about the potential for a drone strike at the Kuwait site. Half a dozen officers said many of their jobs could have been moved to a safer location. The Pentagon declined to comment, and the Army’s report has yet to be made public.

5. GRIDLOCK INCOMING? If Democrats flip the Senate, they’re already signaling that many of Trump’s nominees may not be able to get confirmed, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. “It’s the quality of the candidate that matters,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. “Thus far, Trump has a record of notoriously bad candidates.” In other words, it could feel a lot like 2014 again.

6. 2027 DREAMING: Could more bipartisan abundance-esque legislation pass in the next Congress? After successes with the housing law and the recent permitting reform deal, the caucus led by Reps. Josh Harder (D-Calif.) and Celeste Maloy (R-Utah) unveiled a major agenda with proposals spanning everything from child care to AI, POLITICO’s Riley Rogerson reports. Read the package here

7. DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS: “The US said China was priming a trade superweapon. Then it vanished,” by Reuters’ Joe Cash and John Geddie: “Four years ago, the United States warned that China was poised to unleash a trade superweapon: a state-backed digital dragnet that would rapidly expand across the globe and give Beijing unprecedented insight into the flow of international cargo. … Instead, the [LOGINK platform] suffered a stunning reversal … LOGINK’s international retreat is a setback for Beijing … The platform’s decline will be welcomed by the US.”

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TALK OF THE TOWN

IN MEMORIAM — “Dennis Hastert, the disgraced former US House speaker who went to prison, dies at 84,” by the Chicago Tribune’s Michael Tarm and Herbert McCann: He was “the nation’s longest-serving Republican House speaker, who helped turn much of President George W. Bush’s agenda into law before his own political legacy was forever fouled by allegations that he molested high school athletes when he was a wrestling coach.”

THE REVOLVING DOOR — Karoline Leavitt has landed at Fox News as her next gig after being White House press secretary. She’ll be an on-air contributor at the network starting next month. More from POLITICO’s Elleiana Green

MEDIAWATCH — CNN CEO Mark Thompson said today he’ll remain chair and top editor post-Paramount merger. He wrote in a memo to staff that he has “real confidence that [new executives] both understand and will fully support the principle and practice of the kind of independent news that CNN has always stood for.” More from the NYT

TRANSITIONS — Mark Cave is joining O’Melveny as a partner. He most recently worked in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. … Fara Sonderling is joining Continental Strategy as VP. She most recently worked at Converge Public Strategies. … Menno Goedman has joined Cooley’s global litigation department. He previously worked at the Justice Department’s National Security Division. …

… Patrick Quirk is now chief policy, advocacy and campaigns officer at Save the Children. He previously worked at UNICEF USA, and is an International Republican Institute and State Department alum. … Ryan Hagemann is now VP at Founders Policy Group, leading its new AI practice. He most recently worked at IBM. … Melissa Draudt is now a Patriotic Millionaires fellow, in partnership with the School of Moral Ambition. She previously was at Geico.

WEEKEND WEDDING — Reilly Knecht, director of client strategy at Urban Legend, and Danny Smith, senior adviser at the Department of Transportation, got married Saturday in Saint-Émilion, France. They met over coffee in the Rayburn cafeteria in 2019. Pic, via Katy Lunsford … Another pic … SPOTTED: Angela Hervig, Ashtyn Davis Landen, Ben Horton, Grace Dunlap, Holten and Avery Stringer, Jacob Rogers, Jeff Guittard, John Quinn, Kaitlyn Roberts, Karthik and Cassidy Raja, Lauren Camp, Lindsey Curnutte, Maddie Crick Yowell and Julian Yowell, and Matt Ziegler.

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