Good Monday evening. In this edition: Supreme Court weighs climate lawsuit against fossil fuel companies to kick off new term.
Plus, B-1 bombers, Hastert, plague fears, Leavitt and Brazilian elections.
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court kicked off its new term by hearing a case that could determine whether cities and states can use state law to hold fossil fuel companies financially liable for the effects of climate change.
Suncor v. Boulder centers on a lawsuit filed eight years ago by local governments in Colorado against Exxon Mobil and Suncor, a subsidiary of one of Canada's largest energy companies. But the case could have significant implications for dozens of similar lawsuits nationwide targeting the fossil fuel industry.
The local governments claim the two oil companies should help pay for local damage resulting from climate change, which they say has worsened heat waves, wildfires and other extreme weather.
The lawsuit, filed under Colorado law, alleges that the companies misled consumers for decades about the effects their fossil fuel products would have on the climate.
Exxon and Suncor deny the allegations and argue that states and local governments cannot use their own laws to impose liability for the effects of greenhouse-gas emissions produced around the country and the world.
They warn that allowing the Colorado case and dozens of similar lawsuits to proceed could expose the industry to billions of dollars in damages.
Kannon Shanmugam, a lawyer representing the energy companies, described the claims as an "unprecedented effort to use state law to regulate global conduct" and said the Constitution bars the application of state law to "certain inherently federal areas."
Kevin Russell, a lawyer representing the Colorado communities, argued that states have long had the power to provide court remedies for injuries that occur within their borders, even when the conduct that caused them occurred elsewhere.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh appeared sympathetic to the energy companies' argument, saying there was a "wall of precedent" for interstate water and air pollution being regulated at the federal level.
"We don't have to reinvent the wheel because we've said this multiple times … that this kind of pollution is a federal law matter unless Congress speaks otherwise," he said.
Justice Elena Kagan seemed skeptical of their argument, likening it to lawsuits brought against tobacco companies in the 1990s as well as more recently against opioid manufacturers.
"If this is chapter three, were chapters one and two also preempted?" she asked Mr. Shanmugam, who replied that this is "a very different book, not a chapter in the same book."
Chief Justice John Roberts, who sharply pressed attorneys for both sides, questioned how the climate lawsuits differed from those other cases.
"There are a lot of familiar situations where conduct outside of a state has broad effects among other states and all that — and yet we allow state courts in a particular state to bring litigation that affects that," he said. "I guess I'm not quite sure what makes this situation different from those, all those other ones, where we've allowed them to proceed in state court."
Justice Samuel Alito, whose 2025 financial disclosure shows that he had individual holdings in two energy companies, recused himself from the case, raising the possibility of a rare 4–4 decision.
If the high court deadlocks, the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling allowing the lawsuit to move forward would stand.
SCOTUSblog editor Sarah Isgur — who appeared on C-SPAN's "Q&A" earlier this year — predicted a 5–3 decision along ideological lines in favor of the energy companies.
"There's always the chance now that this could split 4–4," she said on Scott Jennings' radio show. "I think after listening to the oral argument … this sounds more like a 5–3 decision that will be along ideological lines. But we shall see."
Justices are set to hear a slew of high-profile cases later in the term, including ones testing President Trump's immigration policies as well as cases on gun rights and religious freedom.
President Trumpsaid the U.S. military withdrew its B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford, a British air base, after "some threats" that he linked to Iran. "Yeah, I think we can say that. I mean, they didn't fly out by accident," he told reporters when asked whether there was a specific threat that led to the withdrawal. "There were some threats, and rather than tempting the enemy — we'll capture the enemy and beat the enemy, but why should we leave them there? So we moved them around a little bit, not very far." The U.S. scrambled over the weekend to withdraw its bombers from the base in southern England. The move came after British authorities arrested six men late last month as part of an investigation into a suspected terrorist plot targeting the base. All six were later released on bail. "We actually know the people who made the threats," President Trump told reporters. "They would be linked to Iran."
Dennis Hastert, the disgraced former House speaker who admitted to sexually abusing boys decades earlier, died over the weekend at the age of 84. A Republican, Mr. Hastert represented Illinois in Congress from 1987 to 2007 and served as House speaker from 1999 to 2007, becoming the longest-serving Republican speaker in history. In 2015, he pleaded guilty to illegally structuring bank withdrawals as part of a hush money scheme to conceal past sexual misconduct. At his sentencing, Mr. Hastert admitted to sexually abusing boys he coached as a high school wrestling coach. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison, two years' supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
Secretary of State Marco Rubiosaid the U.S. government is monitoring reports of a suspected plague infection at a Russian laboratory, saying it is a "cause for focus" but not alarm. "There's very limited travel between the U.S. and Russia, obviously, but like anything else, something like that gets out, it could quickly spread," he told reporters before departing for a trip to Iceland. "So we're watching and monitoring it closely. I don't think it's cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus and a cause to just keep an eye on it. And we're doing that." Russian health authorities placed nearly 200 people under medical observation following the death of a laboratory technician who worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia. Russian officials said she died of pneumonia of unknown origin and have not confirmed reports that she was infected with pneumonic plague.
Karoline Leavitt, the former White House press secretary, will join Fox News as an on-air contributor starting Nov. 1. Ms. Leavitt, the youngest White House press secretary in history, left the administration at the end of August following the birth of her second child, citing her desire to spend more time with her family. "Karoline's firsthand experience in the White House and on the presidential campaign trail gives her a distinct understanding of today's political landscape," Fox News said in a statement. "We look forward to her providing our audience with authentic and sharp insight across all Fox News Media platforms." She joins former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who served during his first administration and is now a host at the conservative news network.
Brazil's presidential election is heading to a runoff between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, after neither candidate won a majority in Sunday's election. The elder Bolsonaro was arrested and convicted for his role in an attempted coup after losing the 2022 presidential election to President Lula. Sen. Bolsonaro, who represents Rio de Janeiro, received 47% of the vote compared with the incumbent's 45%, amid a broader trend of Trump-allied candidates winning elections in Latin American countries. Brazilian voters will decide who will become president on Oct. 25.
For your radar…
Journalist Don Lemon discusses the state of the relationship between the press and the White House ahead of the midterm elections during a conversation hosted by Harvard University on Tuesday. Watch LIVE on C-SPAN2 at 6pm ET.
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