"U.S. top court rejects Exxon in climate change document dispute", 7 Jan. 2019

[Today,] the U.S. Supreme Court…cleared the way for the attorney general of Massachusetts to obtain records from Exxon Mobil Corp…to probe whether the oil company for decades concealed its knowledge of the role fossil fuels play in climate change. 

The justices declined to hear Exxon’s appeal of a ruling [granting the] Massachusetts Attorney General, Maura Healey, jurisdiction to seek records to probe whether the company misled consumers and investors.

The high court’s action marked the latest setback for Exxon in its efforts to halt the Massachusetts investigation and a similar one by New York’s attorney general, who in October filed a lawsuit against the company…

[Both] investigations were launched following 2015 news reports that Exxon’s own scientists had determined that fossil fuel combustion must be reduced to mitigate the impact of climate change…

Exxon said the documents were not inconsistent with its public positions. [In 2016, when] Healey…issued a civil investigative demand for those documents,…Exxon said that because it is incorporated in Texas and New Jersey, Healey had no basis to seek documents to conduct a Massachusetts-based investigation.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in April [2018] held that jurisdiction existed…Exxon has called the Massachusetts and New York investigations politically motivated.