This fall, the Supreme Court will hear a case that could decide whether and how communities can hold Big Oil accountable for climate impacts in court. Boulder, Colorado is suing ExxonMobil and Suncor to make them help pay for the local cost of climate disasters, after the companies spent decades lying about the damage their products cause. Boulder is one of many communities suing the fossil fuel industry across the country, so how the Court rules on this case could affect all of them. 

The catch is the Justices deciding whether Big Oil pays up have their own ties to the oil industry. Nearly a quarter of Justice Alito’s personal portfolio is oil and gas stock. In 2023 he sat out this exact case, the same way he sat out other Big Oil lawsuits where his investments created a conflict. Now the case is back, he's chosen to hear it, and he won't say what changed. Justice Barrett’s father spent decades at Shell and twice chaired a subcommittee of the American Petroleum Institute. As a lower-court judge, she recused herself from Shell cases, and she has yet to say why she’s not doing that as a Supreme Court justice.

And the conflicts run deeper than any one justice. Justice Thomas has accepted luxury travel from donors with fossil fuel interests, and the dark money network that helped install this Court's conservative majority has taken millions from oil-linked funders. The industry on trial helped build the bench that's judging it. 

Sign our petition to demand that Justices with conflicts of interests recuse themselves so this case stands a fair chance and communities seeking accountability from massive corporations can have a fair day in court.