A couple of months ago, the U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude Walker subpoenaed ExxonMobil for the release of over 40 years of documents pertaining to internal discussions and knowledge around the subject of climate change. ExxonMobil challenged the subpoena. Completely coincidentally (read: not coincidentally at all), Republicans like Texan climate denier Rep. Lamar Smith sent letters off to Attorney General Claude Walker and 16 other state attorneys general warning them that pursuing ExxonMobil in this way was an attack on the First Amendment. Yes. They went that direction with it. Good news for tree huggers everywhere as a Texas judge has ruled against ExxonMobil’s plea to have their challenge heard in state or federal court.
"After careful consideration of the Motion, the response, the reply, the applicable law, and the relevant portions of the record, the Court DENIES the Motion," according to Kinkeade's
two-sentence order.
The ruling, unless appealed by Exxon, means the case will begin winding its way through the Fort Worth division of the federal court for the Northern District of Texas. Walker and the attorneys hired by the Virgin Islands to handle the investigation now have until July 12 to respond to
Exxon's original lawsuit seeking to block the subpoena.
This is a small bit of good news but it is good news. ExxonMobil wanted the state court system to try their challenge because they believed they could get a friendlier decision. It also would have started their tier of litigation on the state level which they could, regardless of the decision, appeal higher and higher, thus dragging out the process for a longer period of time. They will still try to drag this out, but not in the state courts, it seems.