Courtesy of Reason magazine CLW sees that the United States Supreme Court has denied certiorari sought by energy companies in Sunoco LP v. Honolulu and Shell PLC v. Honolulu.
Noting in particular the following from Reason contributor Jonathan Adler, CLW’s view is that SCOTUS involvement is only a matter of time, but the coming further years of litigation and delay between now and when the Court opines, while arguably appropriate procedurally, are going to be costly all around:
The one real argument for certiorari is that there is something of a split on the preemption question as one court — the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a decision I discuss here — has accepted the preemption arguments, albeit in a different posture. I suspect this argument was not enough because the justices recognized that it would nonetheless be premature to review the Hawaii suit, and that there will be ample opportunity for judicial review should Hawaii courts (and other state courts hearing similar claims) impose judgements that exceed their proper authority or otherwise raise constitutional questions.
Jonathan Adler, Reason Magazine
Given the robust body of evidence that this vexatious multi-jurisdictional litigation campaign is designed to bring the targets “to the table,” to sue for peace, the Court should take the first opportunity to resolve the jurisdictional issues this campaign raises.