Big Oil asks Supreme Court to kill climate lawsuits before trial

The US Supreme Court heard arguments from oil companies on Monday that could help decide the fate of more than two dozen lawsuits accusing the industry of deceiving the public about climate change. The claims seek potentially billions of dollars in damages to help pay the costs imposed by climate-related extreme weather. Yet the questions before the court did not focus on the merits of these claims but instead on technical legal matters over whether they should proceed at all.