The Daily Fuckup

The Justice Department has asked a federal court in Minnesota to stop the state’s climate-deception case before it moves any further. In a complaint filed May 4, federal lawyers said Minnesota’s lawsuit is preempted by federal law and should be enjoined. The government is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, according to the filing. No court has ruled yet.

Minnesota’s case, filed in June 2020, targets ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, the American Petroleum Institute and Flint Hills Resources. The state says the companies engaged in deceptive conduct by downplaying climate risks and misrepresenting the effects of fossil fuels. The Justice Department argues that Minnesota is using state consumer-protection law to intrude on an area controlled by federal authority over energy policy and emissions.

That makes the immediate issue procedural, not factual. The court is not being asked at this stage to decide whether the underlying allegations are true. It is being asked to decide whether Minnesota can keep using its own laws to pursue claims the federal government says are off limits because of preemption. If the Justice Department persuades the court, the state case could be narrowed or blocked. If it does not, Minnesota keeps its lawsuit alive and the dispute moves deeper into discovery and litigation.

The filing places the administration in a familiar position: arguing for broad federal control when a state enforcement action threatens a national policy area. The legal theory will turn on how the court reads the boundary between state consumer-fraud law and federal authority over energy and environmental regulation. For now, the only certain fact is that the Justice Department has opened a new front in the long-running fight over climate accountability, and the court has not yet decided whether Minnesota may continue.