"The Supreme Court on Monday morning grappled with a dispute in Chevron USA Inc. v. Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana over whether oil and gas companies can move a lawsuit seeking to hold them responsible for damage to the Louisiana coast to federal court. A lawyer for the companies told the justices that they should be allowed to do so under a federal law, known as the federal officer removal statute, that gives federal courts the power to hear state court cases filed against “any officer (or any person acting under that officer) or the United States or of an agency thereof, in an official or individual capacity, for or relating to any act under color of such office.” Paul Clement argued that the conduct at the center of the case “effectively amounted to a joint venture during World War II to get as much oil out of the ground, transport it to the refineries that the government was helping to finance to expand, all in an effort to get petroleum products and in particular” aviation gasoline “onto the war front.”
Several justices, however, expressed concern about the potential reach of the companies’ position. That concern, combined with the dearth of questions for Louisiana Solicitor General J. Benjamin Aguiñaga, who represented the challengers, and the absence of Justice Samuel Alito (who did not participate in the case because he has a financial interest in a parent company of one of the defendants), made it difficult to predict who will ultimately prevail.
The dispute before the court on Monday is one of 42 that a group of Louisiana coastal parishes (along with state officials) filed under state law more than a decade ago. They contend that the oil and gas companies, whose predecessors produced crude oil along the coast during World War II, violated the law and damaged the coast, and the parishes sought to have the companies pay damages."
Amy Howe reports for SCOTUSblog January 12, 2026.
SEE ALSO:
"Supreme Court Grapples With Louisiana Coastal Lawsuits Against Oil Companies" (New York Times)
"SCOTUS Hears Oral Arguments In Louisiana Coastal Case; Industry Organizations React" (WBRZ)
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