The conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board is demanding answers after Justice Samuel Alito abruptly stepped aside from a blockbuster Supreme Court climate case.
The Journal's editorial board addressed the recusal in an opinion piece on Tuesday. It warned that Alito's absence from Suncor Energy v. Boulder County opens the door to a 4-4 deadlock when the justices hear arguments Monday.
"That's regrettable," the board wrote.
The case asks whether cities and counties can sue oil companies over global climate change. A tie would leave standing a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that Boulder's claims against Suncor and ExxonMobil "are not preempted by federal law."
Without a firm ruling from the high court, the board warned, "climate lawfare will proliferate."
The court's clerk did not say why Alito recused himself.
"Perhaps there's a good reason," the board wrote.
The silence stands out because Alito resisted calls to sit out the case earlier this year. In May, a coalition of groups including Earthworks and Feminist Majority wrote to the Senate complaining that he hadn't recused. They pointed to his investments in other oil companies such as ConocoPhillips, as well as a Vanguard fund in which Exxon ranks among the top holdings. Vanguard puts Exxon's share of the fund at 2.7 percent.
At the time, a court spokeswoman told NBC that "Justice Alito does not have a financial interest in any party." She added that legal counsel had advised his recusal was not required.
"What changed?" the board asked. "Perhaps a new conflict has arisen."
The board suggested that justices who hold individual stocks rather than broad pooled funds run a higher risk of being forced off cases. It also dismissed the groups behind the May letter as more interested in the outcome than in ethics.
"The point is that this really isn't about judicial ethics, and everyone knows it," the board wrote.