Climate alarmism has lost at the ballot box time and time again, and last year, even Bill Gates significantly dialed down his support for it. However, enterprising lawyers on the Left are still trying to smuggle in an effective carbon tax through the courts—and the Supreme Court should put an end to it.

It works like this: local governments or activist groups file a lawsuit against oil and gas companies, claiming that the burning of fossil fuels impacts the climate, and these impacts negatively harmed people. Activist lawyers bring cases in state courts that are more likely to rule in their favor, and—presto!—you’ve got a “carbon tax” imposed on oil and gas companies without needing a vote in Congress.

Don’t take my word for it. David Bookbinder, who served as part of the legal team representing the left-leaning city and county of Boulder in suing oil companies, described the climate lawfare as “an indirect carbon tax.”

“Tort liability is an indirect carbon tax,” Bookbinder said on a Federalist Society panel in October. “You sue an oil company, an oil company is liable. The oil company then passes that liability on to the people who are buying its products.”

Tellingly, he added, “I’d prefer an actual carbon tax, but if we can’t get one of those… this is a rather, somewhat convoluted way, to achieve the goals of a carbon tax.”

The thing is, the law isn’t supposed to work that way.........

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