Split 5th Circuit Backs Landmark Air Penalty Amid Confusion On Standing

A starkly divided 5th Circuit has upheld a landmark civil penalty imposed on oil giant ExxonMobil for Clean Air Act (CAA) violations, in a profoundly divided opinion that otherwise fails to resolve key questions over citizens’ standing to sue, amid a dispute over whether the court should even have heard the long-running case again. Given the judges’ often-rancorous divisions, the case appears to be a good candidate for appeal to the Supreme Court on the question of when citizens have...