California Won’t Be Suing its Way to Cleaner Air

Last year, the California attorney general made headlines by suing most of the nation’s leading automakers for contributing to global warming. The AG’s office used a novel interpretation of the state’s “public nuisance” laws to bring the suit and had corporate America in fits. Well, they can rest easier now. A federal judge tossed the suit yesterday, saying that it would be inappropriate for the court to wade into this sort of foreign policy and interstate commerce issue, and that global warming would be better addressed in the political system.