Supreme Court Coverage
The Court will hear oral argument today in Cisco Systems v. Doe I et al. to decide whether a U.S. corporation can be held liable under the Alien Tort Statue or the Torture Victim Protection Act for aiding and abetting violations of international human rights law.  The argument, which is the only one scheduled today, starts…
Continue ReadingSupreme Court decides Enbridge and Fluor
Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court decided two cases that TLB has been following: Enbridge Energy, LP v. Nessel and Hencely v. Fluor Corp. Enbridge Enbridge is a dispute about whether Michigan can effectively shut down a pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, but the particular question before the Court was purely procedural: does equitable tolling…
Continue ReadingMaryland Shuts Down Climate-Change Litigation
Last month, the Supreme Court of Maryland affirmed dismissal of all claims in lawsuits brought by Baltimore, Annapolis, and Anne Arundel County against 26 oil and gas companies alleging that the companies actively deceived the public about the reality and dangers of climate change. The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2021 before being…
Continue ReadingArgument Preview: Enbridge Energy, LP v. Nessel
The Supreme Court will hear oral argument this morning in Enbridge Energy, LP v. Nessel, a case involving Michigan’s effort to end an easement across the Straits of Mackinac for an oil and natural gas pipeline between the Midwest and Canada. As Bill has covered previously for TLB, this is one in a series of…
Continue ReadingDOJ Takes Broad View of Foreign Affairs Preemption in Pipeline Case
The Trump Administration has made so many broad assertions of executive power this year that it can be hard to keep track. One such assertion that has not made headlines is found in a statement of interest filed on September 12, 2025, in Enbridge Energy v. Whitmer. At issue is Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s 2020…
Continue ReadingWe Still Don’t Know What the State Department Thinks About the Transit Pipelines Treaty
In Bad River Band v. Enbridge Energy Co., the District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin (Judge William M. Conley) found that a pipeline owned by a Canadian company, Enbridge Energy, trespasses on the reservation of the Bad River Band of Chippewa Indians. He ordered the pipeline to shut down by June 16, 2026….
Continue ReadingWhat Does the State Department Think About the Transit Pipelines Treaty?
On February 8, 2024, the Seventh Circuit heard argument in Bad River Band v. Enbridge Energy Co. Enbridge, a Canadian company, owns and operates a pipeline that transports light crude oil and natural gas liquids from Canadian oil fields to the United States and Ontario. The Bad River Band of Chippewa Indians sued Enbridge for…
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