The Daily Fuckup

The Justice Department filed a federal complaint May 4 asking a judge in Minnesota to shut down the state’s climate-deception case against ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, the American Petroleum Institute and Flint Hills Resources. The government says Minnesota is trying to use state court to police global greenhouse-gas emissions, a field it says belongs to federal authority, and that the suit conflicts with the Constitution and the Clean Air Act. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-files-complaint-against-minnesota-over-its-attempt-override-federal-law))

In the federal filing, DOJ says the procedural window in the Minnesota case opened and closed over a few weeks this spring. The Minnesota Supreme Court denied review on April 15, 2026, the state court of appeals entered judgment on April 20, and the stay in the trial court dissolved on May 4. DOJ filed its complaint the same day the stay ended. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1439311/dl))

Minnesota’s underlying case dates to June 24, 2020, when Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office sued in Ramsey County alleging consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices, misrepresentation and failure to warn. The state said the companies misled Minnesotans about climate change and sought an injunction, restitution and a corrective public education campaign. ([ag.state.mn.us](https://www.ag.state.mn.us/office/communications/2020/06/24_exxonkochapi.asp))

DOJ’s complaint says Minnesota is really trying to regulate energy production and emissions far beyond its borders, and it specifically invokes preemption under the Constitution and the Clean Air Act. It also says the state case intrudes on foreign-policy and national-energy decisions the federal government claims as its own. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-files-complaint-against-minnesota-over-its-attempt-override-federal-law))

The next step is a federal court fight over whether Minnesota’s case can keep moving. If the judge accepts DOJ’s arguments, the state suit could be narrowed, paused or dismissed. If not, discovery in the Minnesota case could resume. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1439311/dl))