| American Electric Power Company v. Connecticut | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued April 19, 2011 Decided June 20, 2011 | |
| Full case name | American Electric Power Company, Inc., et al., v. Connecticut |
| Docket no. | 10-174 |
| Citations | 564 U.S. 410 (more) 131 S. Ct. 2527; 180 L. Ed. 2d 435 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Dismissed, 406 F. Supp. 2d 265 (S.D.N.Y. 2005); vacated and remanded, 582 F.3d 309 (2nd Cir. 2009); certiorari granted, 562 U.S. 1091 (2010). |
| Holding | |
| 1. The Second Circuit’s exercise of jurisdiction is affirmed by an equally divided Court. / 2. The Clean Air Act and the EPA action the Act authorizes displace any federal common-law right to seek abatement of carbon-dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel fired power plants. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Ginsburg, joined by Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Breyer, Kagan |
| Concurrence | Alito (in part), joined by Thomas |
| Sotomayor took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
American Electric Power Company v. Connecticut, 564 U.S. 410 (2011), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court, in an 8–0 decision, held that corporations cannot be sued for greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) under federal common law, primarily because the Clean Air Act (CAA) delegates the management of carbon dioxide and other GHG emissions to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Brought to court in July 2004 in the Southern District of New York, this was the first global warming case based on a public nuisance claim.