Legal
US Justice Dept. Sues Minnesota to Block Climate Case as Discovery Nears
Federal complaint argues that state lawsuit against oil companies intrudes on national authority over emissions and energy policy
The US Justice Dept. on May 4 sued Minnesota to block the state’s climate case against major oil companies, citing federal preemption over emissions policy.
The U.S. Justice Dept. filed suit against Minnesota on May 4, seeking to block the state’s long-running climate deception case against major energy companies—a filing that comes just three weeks after the state Supreme Court cleared that same case to proceed to discovery.
Filed in the U.S. District Court based in Minneapolis, the Justice Department contends in its argument that Minnesota is attempting to “regulate global greenhouse gas emissions” through state law, an authority the DOJ says belongs exclusively to the federal government under the Clean Air Act and the U.S. Constitution.
The Justice Dept. action targets Minnesota’s 2020 lawsuit against ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, Koch subsidiary Flint Hills Resources and the American Petroleum Institute, which alleges the companies misled the public for decades about the causes and costs of climate change.
RELATED
States' Suit Targets Trump 'Energy Emergency' Order That Fast Tracks Projects
Federal Preemption at Center of Dispute
Justice officials framed the complaint as a constitutional and statutory conflict, asserting Minnesota’s claims interfere with federal authority and implicate “uniquely federal interests” requiring a uniform national approach.
“The case we filed against Minnesota today is an attempt to rein in another unconstitutional state effort to invade an area of exclusive federal control,” principal deputy assistant attorney general Adam Gustafson of the department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said. “Minnesota’s attempted overreach would undermine our economic and national security to advance the climate agenda of politicians and activists.”
The filing advances President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14260, “Protecting American Energy from State Overreach,” which directed Justice to identify and challenge state laws that burden domestic energy development.
Looking for quick answers on construction and engineering topics?
Try Ask ENR, our new smart AI search tool.
Ask ENR →
The federal government's complaint also asserts that Minnesota’s lawsuit, which seeks to compel energy companies to release a percentage of profits from global energy production, violates the Constitution's Commerce Clause and raises foreign policy concerns by seeking global remedies for emissions that could interfere with the country's international negotiations related to energy policy.
RELATED
US Judge Revokes Trump Work Shutdown Order on Fifth Offshore Wind Project
Case Was Headed to Discovery
The Justice complaint arrives at a critical juncture in the Minnesota lawsuit's six-year history. On April 17, the state Supreme Court declined to hear further appeals from ExxonMobil, Koch and API, clearing the case to proceed to discovery after three successive rounds of failed delay.
Minnesota courts have so far declined to accept arguments that the claims are preempted by federal law. In February 2025, a Ramsey County District Court denied motions to dismiss, finding the state’s consumer fraud and failure-to-warn claims arise from alleged deceptive marketing conduct rather than emissions regulated under federal statute. The Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld that ruling in January 2026.
Read More
United States v.
State of Minnesota
The Minnesota filing is the latest in a series of Justice actions targeting state climate laws under Trump's executive order directing the agency to protect domestic energy development from state interference. The case has been litigated in state court since 2020, surviving repeated removal efforts and jurisdictional challenges before reaching the discovery phase.
Last year, the department sued Hawaii, Michigan, New York and Vermont in cases involving either state climate litigation or climate Superfund statutes.
The federal government’s track record regarding state litigation has not been one of success: One federal judge in January dismissed the Justice Dept. attempt to block Michigan's climate suit, while another dismissed the Hawaii action in late April—days before the Minnesota complaint was filed. Across the country, six federal courts of appeals have previously declined to find that such state-law climate claims are preempted.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison called the Justice lawsuit an extension of the same delay tactics deployed by the named defendants since 2020.
He has maintained throughout the litigation that the state claims will prevail. "This frivolous and meritless lawsuit is just their latest attempt to hide from accountability, and I will move to have it dismissed immediately," Ellison told a local Minnesota television reporter after the federal filing. "The American people deserve a Department of Justice that fights for us, and it's a tremendous shame that Trump's DOJ would rather sell us out to Big Oil."
RELATED
Green Transition Goes Local: States and Cities Tackle Climate Change as US Protections Relax
The outcome of the department's move carries direct consequences should it lose: The Minnesota case—now approaching discovery—would require the named defendants to produce internal documents about what company officials knew about climate risk and when they knew it.
Federal officials argue that allowing state-level climate tort claims to proceed would create a patchwork of liability standards affecting fuel production, transportation and pricing—complicating project planning and long-term infrastructure investment.
The department said it will seek injunctive relief to halt Minnesota’s case while the federal lawsuit proceeds.
Bryan Gottlieb is the online editor at Engineering News-Record (ENR).
Gottlieb is a five-time Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Journalism award winner with more than a decade of experience covering business, construction and community issues, including finance, law and real estate. He has reported for Adweek and the San Diego Daily Transcript and led a community newsroom in Santa Monica, Calif. He served as editor-in-chief of the Detroit Metro Times and as managing editor at Roofing Contractor, where he helped shape national industry coverage. At Engineering News-Record, Gottlieb covers breaking news, large-scale infrastructure and megaprojects, regulatory developments and business trends across the U.S. and global construction sectors.
email: gottliebb@enr.com | office: (248) 786-1591
