THIS IS HUGE: Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito just backed down and pulled himself off one of the biggest cases of the year, after mounting pressure over his oil stocks.
Alito will no longer participate in a major climate case involving Exxon Mobil and Suncor Energy, who are trying to get a Colorado lawsuit over oil companies’ role in climate change thrown out.
Read that again.
This is a total reversal. Alito had previously pushed back hard on calls to recuse himself, telling NBC News through a court spokesperson that he “does not have a financial interest in any party.” The move was disclosed Monday in a one-sentence letter to attorneys: “I am writing to inform the parties that Justice Alito has determined that he will not continue to participate in this case.”
Here’s why people were calling for this in the first place. According to Alito’s own financial disclosures, he holds stocks in multiple oil companies, including ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66. An analysis by Court Accountability found he received as much as $2.9 million from oil and gas interests between 2005 and 2024.
Think about that. A sitting Supreme Court justice, hearing a case about oil companies and climate damages, while personally profiting from oil and gas stocks the whole time.
With Alito out, the Supreme Court’s six-to-three conservative majority just got a lot less lopsided on this case, making a split decision far more likely and tipping things away from the oil industry’s favor.
The Revolving Doors Project, one of the groups pushing for his recusal, put it perfectly: “Bad news for Exxon, and a win for the power of public pressure calling out the blatant corruption of the Roberts Court.”
Public pressure worked. Bye bye, Alito.
