The U.S. Supreme Court will take up a case involving Line 5 — the twin pipelines that move oil and natural gas along the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac that environmentalists and the state have actively been trying to shut down for years — though it’s more about settling a jurisdictional question than one about Line 5’s future.
On June 30, the court said it will consider arguments at some point in a case between Enbridge, the Canadian company that owns Line 5, and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel as to whether it belongs in federal court or a state one.
Here’s a brief rundown on the debate between the two parties that the Supreme Court is expected to decide:
Enbridge went to the Supreme Court, arguing that the Sixth Circuit decision that the district court couldn’t rule to set aside the deadline in these sort of circumstances runs contrary to what some other appellate courts have said; Nessel’s office says Enbridge has it wrong, that it’s using a little cited exception to try to make its case and that there is no reason the issue shouldn’t be heard in state court.
The Supreme Court’s order on June 30, as the court’s term ended and it’s not expected back on the bench until October, means it will take legal arguments from both sides and others on the question, though it won’t be about international relations or the ongoing claims regarding Line 5.
Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on X @tsspangler.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Line 5 question reaches U.S. Supreme Court, but it won’t decide pipelines’ future
Reporting by Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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