Supreme Court Returns With Culture Wars Front and Center

The Supreme Court kicked off its new term today with arguments over whether local governments can sue oil companies for climate damages — the first of several major cases this term that will wade into culture war clashes over immigration, gun rights, and climate liability. Meanwhile, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to three neuroscientists for a breakthrough technique that lets researchers control brain cells with light, and Russian authorities are investigating the death of a woman at a remote anti-plague institute in Siberia.

Supreme Court Takes On Climate, Guns, and Immigration

The case heard today — Boulder, Colorado versus ExxonMobil and Suncor — could end up being "the biggest case of the entire term," according to Wall Street Journal Supreme Court reporter James Ramoser. The justices are considering whether local governments can sue energy companies for damages related to climate change, and there are dozens of similar lawsuits pending around the country that "threaten many, many, many billions of dollars in liability for the energy sector."