Missouri, et al. v. Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, et al.

On January 21, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 13990 that re-established the Interagency Working Group on the Social Costs of Greenhouse Gases and ordered them to issue interim estimates on the social costs of greenhouse gases. Executive Order 13990 breaks new ground and generally requires every agency to use those interim “social” costs “when monetizing the value of changes in greenhouse gas emissions resulting from regulations and other relevant agency actions until final values are published.” The interim “social costs” were published in February 2021 without any public input and skipping notice-and-comment procedures. Plaintiff States alleged many different harms and injuries from the interim “social costs” dramatic increase in the costs from emitting greenhouse gases, including harms to proprietary, sovereign, and procedural interests. The Eighth Circuit largely found it too attenuated to infer that federal agencies would propose regulations and follow the President’s command to use the interim social costs, and dismissed the case. The question presented is: 1. Whether the Petitioning States’ alleged harms to their proprietary and sovereign interests (as well as a completed procedural injury) are sufficient to supply Article III standing?