By LESLEY CLARK and ALEX GUILLÉN, POLITICO
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/28/supreme-court-alito-climate-case-01095470
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is stepping back from a major climate argument just a week before the court is scheduled to take up the case.
Alito had faced calls to recuse himself from Suncor v. Boulder over his financial interests in energy companies. A Monday letter from Scott Harris, clerk of the court, informed the parties that Alito “has determined that he will not continue to participate in this case.” The notice did not further explain his decision to sit out arguments Oct. 5, the first day of the court’s new term.
In the case, Colorado localities are seeking damages under state tort laws related to the effects of climate change. The suit named Suncor and ExxonMobil. While Alito does not hold stock in those companies, he is invested in several other fossil fuel companies, including oil giants ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66. They are named in many lawsuits similar to Colorado’s that have been filed around the country. The future of those cases will be affected by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Suncor.
A spokesperson for the court as recently as May had said that Alito wouldn’t recuse because he didn’t have a ”financial interest in any party” involved in Suncor and that he was advised by the court’s legal counsel that “his recusal is not required.”
Alito did recuse himself when the court turned away an appeal from the companies in the Colorado case in 2023. But that recusal came as the court on the same day rejected appeals in similar cases involving other companies, including ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66.
The court spokesperson said earlier this year that Alito had “inadvertently recused” himself in the earlier Colorado case “because it was considered at the same time as other cases where the justice did have a financial interest in the parties.”
Alito had resisted calls to step aside from the upcoming climate argument, even as watchdog groups note that the entire oil industry is likely to be affected by the decision. California-based Consumer Watchdog has noted that both ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66 have warned shareholders multiple times over the past decade about the potential financial consequences of the litigation.
The group called Alito’s recusal the “right decision, and one he should have made from the start.”
“The public should not have to wonder whether a justice’s personal investments could benefit from a ruling that shields the fossil-fuel industry from liability,” said Organizing Director Alexandra Nagy.
Conservative groups have also called for Justice Elena Kagan to recuse herself as part of a broader effort to discredit a judicial educational manual. The court has not acknowledged those requests.
Alito is one of just two justices to hold investments in individual companies, including in fields other than energy. The other is Chief Justice John Roberts, who holds just a few stocks, none in the energy sector.
