Chevy’s Court Case Gets Surprise Support From Two Liberal Justices

Three courts, one big question. The Supreme Court looked at a fight that began in Louisiana over oil drilling in the 1970s. The state law stopped oil work without a special permit. In 2013, local parishes sued big companies for past drilling practices. They said the companies used bad methods and harmed the coast. Chevy, a big oil firm, took the case to federal court. They used a rule that lets state lawsuits move to federal courts when they involve government actions. Chevy said the drilling was part of wartime work for the U. S. military, so it fell under that rule.Justice Thomas wrote the main decision. Surprisingly, two liberal justices, Kagan and Sotomayor, agreed with him. The third liberal justice, Jackson, chose to join only the judgment, not the reasoning. No one disagreed. The court found that Chevy met the rule’s “relating to” test, so the case stayed in federal court. The decision shows that justice opinions can cross typical political lines.