We've just learned that yesterday, in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Judge Martin Jenkins dismissed the state of California's nuisance lawsuit seeking damages for costs associated with global warming from the world's six largest automakers.
We'll have more on this as we carefully read over the 24-page ruling itself (readers are welcome to do so as well!), but initial reports from the San Francisco Chronicle and others indicate that Judge Jenkins found primarily that this was a political question not appropriate for legal judgment:
...Jenkins said it would be inappropriate for the court to wade into the "global warming thicket" as it pertained to interstate commerce and foreign policy - matters he said should be left to the political branches of government.
"In this case, by seeking to impose damages for the defendant automakers' lawful worldwide sale of automobiles, plaintiff's nuisance claims sufficiently implicate the political branches' powers over interstate commerce and foreign policy," Jenkins wrote.
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