Will SCOTUS Let Big Oil Off the Hook?

Leah Litman (0:00)

Strict Scrutiny is brought to you by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. It's back to school and back to Scotus season. And this year, five million children across Texas are going back to the Ten Commandments in their classrooms.

What is that you say? Yep, Texas politicians passed a law requiring the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom, forcing their religion on every kid in those schools. Twenty-eight families in Texas supported by Americans United for Separation of Church and State are taking the fight to the Supreme Court. And we need you to amplify their voices before the Supreme Court gets its hands on this case. Don't let this case disappear on the cert docket, and don't let it sneak under people's radar. They're going to go up, but we're going to fight to get them taken down. That's Texas public school parent Ted Lowe. Ted and Rebecca Lowe are an interfaith couple. Ted is Jewish and Rebecca is Christian, and their kids are in Texas public schools. The story they tell in this video is moving, and we hope that everyone hears it and shares it too. There is a human cost of Christian nationalist policies, like these Ten Commandments laws and the decisions of the Supreme Court hands down. These Ten Commandments laws, for example, don't exactly help everyone feel welcome at public schools as they should. Visit au.org/tenc to learn more about this case and how you can help join the fight to protect church-state separation.

SPEAKER_2 (1:16)

Mr. Chief Justice, please report. It's an old joke, but when a hardy man argues against two beautiful ladies like this, they're going to have the last word.

SPEAKER_3 (1:29)

She spoke not elegantly, but with unmistakable clarity. She said, I ask no favor for my sex.

All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.

Leah Litman (1:59)

Welcome back to Strict Scrutiny, your podcast about the Supreme Court and the legal culture that surrounds it. We're your hosts for today. I'm Leah Litman.

Melissa Murray (2:05)

And I'm Melissa Murray. And yes, it is just the two of us, which is going to make for a fairly chaotic episode, as you know.

But that seems to be exactly what we need to recap the first week of the new Supreme Court term and the first week of one Justice Samuel A. Alito's new book slash polemic slash jeremiad being released, unleashed on the public slash word vomit.

Leah Litman (2:33)

But the first week of the new term happened, and I can't say the justices exactly covered themselves in glory or gave us any indication that this year would be better than the last.

Melissa Murray (2:43)

So folks, that means we are going to spend most of our time recapping the big climate case that the court heard last Monday, that's Suncor versus commissioners of Boulder County.

And we are going to be joined by very special guest, Kirti Datla of Earthjustice will join us for that discussion. And we are going to spend a huge chunk of time on court culture and specifically, one Samuel A. Alito's big press tour accompanied by a book slash polemic slash jeremiad slash word vomit, which we regrettably not only read, but also saw the fallout from. So get ready.

Leah Litman (3:20)

Then at the end, we will bring you an interview that Melissa did with Professor Bernadette Atuahene about her book, Plundered, How Racist Policies Undermine Black Homeownership in America.

Also, just, I don't know, trigger warning, if I sound harsh or raw on this episode, I'd like to write it up to the fact that this past week, I had a fucking exposed nerve that's causing all sorts of nerve gain in my face. No, actually, this is like an actual medical thing. But also the people on the receiving end of my strays like Sam Alito are going to deserve it. So both and. Shall we soldier on?

Melissa Murray (3:51)

Let's soldier.

Leah Litman (3:52)

We'll start with recapping Suncor, which as a refresher, is about whether Boulder County's lawsuit against oil companies will be allowed to proceed to the next stage of the case, or whether instead the court will stop the suit in its tracks because something in federal law, although they're not quite sure what and neither are the oil companies, but they do know that something in federal law, TBD slash TK, that note to yourself you make while writing to come back and insert it later, they know that something TBD slash TK does bar this lawsuit. They just need to figure out what that thing is.

Melissa Murray (4:24)

Sounds legit. So Boulder County alleges that several oil companies marketing practices around greenhouse gas emissions contributed to climate change that was harming Boulder, in part by damaging the county's water supply.