Prof. James Coleman Interviewed by Minnesota Reformer About Attempts to Block Keith Ellison’s Lawsuit Against Oil Industry

Professor James Coleman was interviewed by the Minnesota Reformer about the Trump administration moving to block a lawsuit filed almost six years ago by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison that alleged oil companies and a petroleum trade group deceived state residents about climate change. The U.S. Department of Justice filed an action in federal court in Minneapolis last week arguing that the federal government has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, not states, and that Minnesota officials are trying to improperly impose their policy preferences on the rest of the country. Prof. Coleman said the Trump administration’s intervention injects some uncertainty into Ellison’s case. Depending on which judges hear Trump’s lawsuit in district court and on its all-but-inevitable appeal to the potentially Trump-friendly Eighth Circuit, Ellison’s state case could be frozen while judges weigh the merits of removing it to federal court. He said, “This enters us into a world of complex litigation, but it’s a big deal that the Trump administration is filing this claim. It’s the federal government saying, ‘Forget that other lawsuit: We’re filing our own lawsuit that needs to be resolved by federal courts.’”