By the National Law Review
With the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett on October 26, the Supreme Court that will review a Fourth Circuit decision affirming the remand of Baltimore City’s ongoing climate suit is significantly more conservative than the Supreme Court that granted certiorari just a few weeks prior.[1]
Justice Barrett, a self-proclaimed textualist and a prior clerk to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, is expected to give strong preference to the plain language meaning of federal statutes, regardless of the policy ramifications. This will likely favor Petitioners, whose certiorari petition relied on a plain language reading of the relevant federal statute.
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