The Supreme Court of Maryland dismissed three lawsuits filed by Democrat jurisdictions seeking to hold oil and gas companies accountable for climate change worldwide. The lawsuits were a coordinated legal effort to force energy producers to pay billions of dollars in weather-related damages nationwide. Fortunately, they got a stake to the heart in liberal Maryland. It’s a great sign.
The 3-2 decision, written by Justice Brynja Booth, determined the lawsuits brought by the City of Baltimore, Anne Arundel County, and the City of Annapolis improperly sought to use state law to “regulate air emissions beyond their jurisdictional boundaries.”
Baltimore, Anne Arundel, and Annapolis argued that the defendants, more than two dozen oil companies, including BP, Chevron, and ExxonMobil, violated nuisance laws by selling products that generated carbon emissions and, in turn, led to costly weather events harming their residents.
There is no proof that they led to any weather events. The science isn’t settled.
It was an absurd claim, so they could extort money and shut down energy producers globally from the state courts.
Booth wrote that federal law alone applies to cases related to interstate pollution. “No amount of creative pleading can masquerade the fact that the local governments are attempting to utilize state law to regulate global conduct that is purportedly causing global harm,” wrote Booth.
Booth also stated that seeking to use state courts to reduce worldwide greenhouse gas emissions “is so far afield from any area of traditional state or local responsibility that it cannot be seriously contemplated.”
*Huge* Maryland Supreme Court decision–and timely, with the U.S. Supreme Court teeing up the case Suncor v. City of Boulder. The Maryland Supreme Court (in 165 pages of opinions) found that all of the climate torts fail. Thank gosh. A stroke of reason in these wacky cases! pic.twitter.com/h3iWC7HOs4
— Eric W. (@EWess92) March 25, 2026