Boulder County accused ExxonMobil of lying about climate change and dragged the oil giant into court back in 2018.
That lawsuit finally reached a skeptical Supreme Court on October 5.
One question from Justice Clarence Thomas forced Boulder's attorney into a stunning admission on the record.
Clarence Thomas Found the Hole in Boulder's Entire Legal Theory
Kevin Russell stood at the podium representing Boulder County.
He was trying to convince eight justices that Colorado can sue oil companies under state law for a planet-wide phenomenon.
Thomas asked him directly whether that same legal theory could be turned against other businesses.
Not just oil companies.
Any business.
"Nothing in our theory prevents that," Russell admitted.
Read that again.
Boulder's own lawyer just told the Supreme Court of the United States that his legal theory has no limiting principle.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh picked up the thread and asked whether enough lawsuits like this one could flat out bankrupt the companies being sued.
Justice Neil Gorsuch asked Russell whether there was anything strange about applying one state's law to conduct happening across the entire planet.
Even Justice Elena Kagan, no friend of the oil industry, compared Boulder's legal strategy to the 1990s tobacco playbook, and Chief Justice John Roberts said he shared her concern.
O.H. Skinner of the Alliance for Consumers put it in plain English after the arguments wrapped.
"To the left, climate change is everything and everything is climate change," Skinner said.
"It's very hard to find a line for who isn't contributing to climate change."
That is not a hypothetical worry.
Independence Institute analyst Sarah Montalbano noted that Boulder's theory, if it wins, would let a single Colorado county start dictating energy policy for the entire country.
The Trial Lawyers Chasing a Backdoor Carbon Tax Through the Courts
Congress has never passed a carbon tax.
The American people have never voted for one.
So a coalition of climate activists and contingency-fee trial lawyers decided to build one anyway, one lawsuit at a time, through friendly state courts instead of the ballot box.
David Bookbinder, who used to be Boulder's lawyer on this case before he left, admitted at a Federalist Society forum that the whole strategy amounts to an "indirect carbon tax."
Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, said the real goal is control, not courtroom justice.
"It's about controlling these companies and stopping the use of hydrocarbons," Isaac told Fox News Digital.
There are roughly 30 copycat lawsuits already sitting in courts from Portland to Baltimore, waiting to see what the justices do with Boulder's case.
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown is fighting on the other side, and he explained exactly why his state has skin in this game even though Utah never sued anybody.
"My state is right next to Colorado, and it would have an impact on my state, even though we didn't get a vote," Brown said.
Brown called it exactly what it is: an "energy tax" imposed on states that never agreed to pay it.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall led a 26-state coalition backing the oil companies, and he said he felt "even better" about the case after hearing Kavanaugh's questions than he did walking in.
The Trump administration did not sit this one out either, telling the justices that federal law and existing Clean Air Act precedent already block Boulder's lawsuit from moving forward.
Ninety Thousand Governments Are Waiting for a Green Light
Jason Isaac laid out the number that should worry every driver in America.
There are more than 90,000 government entities in the United States that could file a version of this same lawsuit if Boulder wins.
Every county, every city, every sewer district with a grudge against an oil company and a lawyer willing to work on contingency.
Isaac said the legal defense costs alone would be "astronomical," and that bill gets passed straight to the pump.
This is not the first time trial lawyers have run this exact play.
The 1990s tobacco settlement topped 200 billion dollars, and the 2021 opioid settlement handed billions more to state governments and their lawyers.
Both of those industries sold a product the government later decided it didn't like, and both got hit with lawsuits dressed up as public health justice.
Walter Olson of the Cato Institute has pointed out the obvious difference nobody on Boulder's side wants to talk about.
Oil and gas keep the lights on, heat American homes, and fuel the trucks that stock every grocery store shelf in the country.
You cannot run a modern economy without the product Boulder wants to punish companies for selling.
A 4 to 4 tie, which is possible since Justice Samuel Alito recused himself without explanation, would leave Colorado's ruling standing and let every one of those 30 copycat lawsuits start moving again.
Republicans are optimistic after watching Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, Thomas, Roberts, and even Barrett press Boulder's lawyer on exactly how far his theory reaches.
But optimism is not a ruling, and the trial lawyers chasing this payday are not going away quietly no matter what the Court decides.
Sources:
- Elaine Mallon, "Supreme Court Climate Case Could Bankrupt Oil Companies, Send Gas Prices Soaring, Experts Warn," Fox News, October 10, 2026.
- Morgan Sweeney, "Republican Attorneys General Optimistic After Supreme Court Hears Landmark Case Arguments," The Center Square, October 2026.
- Sarah Montalbano, "Suncor v. Boulder Oral Arguments: Early Signals From the Justices," Independence Institute, October 2026.
- Quarles & Brady, "Justices Signal Skepticism of State Climate Liability Claims in Suncor Oral Argument," Quarles & Brady, October 2026.
