The Justice Department’s lawsuit against Hawaii was part of a wider-ranging effort against states attempting to hold the oil industry liable for the practical damage wrought by climate change. Under former Attorney General Pam Bondi, the government also filed claims targeting Michigan, New York, and Vermont.
A federal judge had dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit designed to prevent Hawaii from filing its own claim against the oil industry and its role in climate challenge.
The federal government initiated legal proceedings against Hawaii last year, with the state announcing its lawsuit against oil and gas companies scarcely a day later. The Justice Department’s unusual strategy—filing a lawsuit to prevent another lawsuit from being filed—was, at the time, criticized for its lack of legal foundation.
According to The New York Times, U.S. District Court Senior Judge Helen Gillmor concurred with this opinion on Wednesday, finding that the Justice Department had no legal standing to sue because it could not demonstrate that any involved party had suffered actual harm. Instead, the government’s claims revolved around an “abstract, theoretical future harm” that cannot be used to form the basis of a lawsuit.
In her decision, Gillmor noted that the Trump administration’s lawsuit was filed two days after Hawaii Gov. Josh Green announced during a television interview that the state was planning to take legal action against the oil industry. Gillmore said that these remarks do not “amount to concrete harm to the United States.” The legal theory cited by the Justice Department, she wrote, was an “attempt to predict the state of Hawaii’s litigation theories and tactics” that was predicated on “multiple layers of unpredictable future events.”
The Justice Department’s lawsuit against Hawaii was part of a wider-ranging effort against states attempting to hold the oil industry liable for the practical damage wrought by climate change. Under former Attorney General Pam Bondi, the government also filed claims targeting Michigan, New York, and Vermont.
Bondi said that the government was suing to challenge “burdensome and ideologically motivated laws and lawsuits” that threaten economic and national security. By taking states to court, Bondi claimed, the Justice Department was working to fulfill President Donald Trump’s executive order on “protecting American energy from state overreach.”
Adam Gustafson, principal deputy assistant attorney general, said that the Justice Department disagrees with the court’s ruling and signaled that it is likely to appeal the ruling.
“We disagree with the Hawaii District Court’s ruling, which ignored Supreme Court precedent regarding the United States’ interest in the supremacy of federal law,” he said. “We are exploring all options.”
The New York Times notes that Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez has since characterized the Justice Department’s attempted lawsuit as “an example of gross federal overreach.” The state’s governor, Josh Green, said the lawsuit will continue trying to “shif[t] the costs of surviving the climate crisis back where they belong. Today’s decision allows the state to continue doing just that.”
Sources
Court Rejects Trump Administration Climate Lawsuit Against Hawaii
US judge rejects Trump administration bid to block Hawaii climate lawsuit
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