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Chevron USA Incorporated, et al. v. Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 23-30294, 23-30422 · judgment May 29, 2024
Before the decision, about 4.8× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a Fifth Circuit decision below, and a circuit split argued in the petition.
Questions presented
This petition arises from Louisiana parishes' efforts to hold petitioners liable in state court for, inter alia, production of crude oil in the Louisiana coastal zone during World War II. Petitioners removed these cases from state court under 28 U.S.C. §1442 (a)(1), which as amended in 2011 provides federal jurisdiction over civil actions against "any person acting under [an] officer" of the United States "for or relating to any act under color of such office." The Fifth Circuit unanimously held that petitioners satisfy the statute's "acting under" requirement by virtue of their WWII-era contracts to supply the federal government with high-octane aviation gasoline ("avgas"). But the panel divided on the "relating to" requirement, with the two-judge majority holding that petitioners' wartime production of crude oil was "unrelated" to their contractually required refinement of that same crude into avgas because the contracts did not contain any explicit "directive pertaining to [petitioners'] oil production activities." App.38. Judge Oldham dissented, explaining that the majority's approach reinstates a variant of the "causal nexus" requirement that multiple circuits (and the U.S. Congress) have expressly rejected. The Fifth Circuit denied rehearing en banc by a vote of 7 to 6. The questions presented are:
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Whether a causal-nexus or contractual-direction test survives the 2011 amendment to the federal-officer removal statute.
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Whether a federal contractor can remove to federal court when sued for oil-production activities undertaken to fulfill a federal oil-refinement contract. January 8, 2026 JUSTICE ALITO WILL NOT CONTINUE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS CASE.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Paul D. Clement
Clement & Murphy, PLLC
For respondent
Jorge Benjamin Aguinaga
Louisiana Department of Justice
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 4 conferences
Amicus briefs
3 cert-stage · 16 merits
(12 supporting pet./neither, 4 respondent)
Argument & decision
Argued January 12, 2026 — Paul D. Clement · J. Benjamin Aguiñaga. Audio and transcript
Decided April 17, 2026. Opinion by Thomas.
Proceedings
- May 19 2026Judgment Issued.
- Apr 17 2026Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED. Thomas, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, JJ., joined. Jackson, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment. Alito, J., took no part in the decision of the case.
- Jan 12 2026Argued. For petitioners: Paul D. Clement, Alexandria, Va.; and Aaron Z. Roper, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. (for United States, as amicus curiae.) For respondents: J. Benjamin Aguiñaga, Solicitor General, Baton Rouge, La.
- Jan 08 2026Letter from Clerk of Court to counsel of record noting that Justice Alito will not continue to participate in this case.
- Dec 15 2025Motion of the Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument GRANTED.
- Dec 15 2025Reply of petitioners Chevron U.S.A. Incorporated, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Dec 02 2025Record received electronically from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and available with the Clerk.
- Dec 01 2025CIRCULATED
- Nov 20 2025Brief amicus curiae of Former Governor John Bel Edwards filed.
- Nov 20 2025Brief amici curiae of Environmental Defense Fund, et al. filed.
- Nov 20 2025Brief amicus curiae of General (Retired) Russel Honoré filed.
- Nov 20 2025Brief amici curiae of American Association for Justice, et al. filed.
- Nov 19 2025Record received electronically from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana and available with the Clerk.
- Nov 18 2025Record received from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The record is electronic and is available on PACER.
- Nov 18 2025Motion of the Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument filed.
- Nov 13 2025Brief of respondents Plaquemines Parish, et al. filed.
- Nov 13 2025Brief of respondents Louisiana, et al. filed.
- Nov 12 2025SET FOR ARGUMENT on Monday, January 12, 2026.
- Nov 12 2025Record requested from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
- Sep 11 2025Brief amicus curiae of United States filed.
- Sep 11 2025Brief amici curiae of West Virginia, et al. filed.
- Sep 11 2025Brief amici curiae of United States Senator Mike Lee, et al. filed.
- Sep 11 2025Brief amici curiae of Washington Legal Foundation, et al. filed.
- Sep 11 2025Brief amicus curiae of America First Policy Institute filed.
- Sep 11 2025Brief amici curiae of Oil and Gas Associations filed.
- Sep 11 2025Brief amicus curiae of Express Scripts, Inc. filed.
- Sep 11 2025Brief amicus curiae of Pelican Institute for Public Policy filed.
- Sep 11 2025Brief amici curiae of Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al. filed.
- Sep 11 2025Brief amicus curiae of American Tort Reform Association filed.
- Sep 11 2025Brief amici curiae of Honorable William P. Barr, et al. filed.
- Sep 09 2025Brief amici curiae of General (Retired) Richard B. Myers, et al. filed.
- Sep 04 2025Brief of petitioners Chevron USA Incorporated, et al. filed.
- Sep 04 2025Joint appendix filed.
- Jul 16 2025Motion to extend the time to file the briefs on the merits granted. The time to file the joint appendix and petitioners' brief on the merits is extended to and including September 4, 2025. The time to file respondents' brief on the merits is extended to and including November 13, 2025.
- Jul 08 2025Motion for an extension of time to file the briefs on the merits filed.
- Jun 16 2025Petition GRANTED.
- Jun 09 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/12/2025.
- Jun 02 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/5/2025.
- Jun 02 2025Petition for writ of certiorari dismissed under Rule 46 only as to petitioner Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Company.
- May 13 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/29/2025.
- May 13 2025Reply of petitioners Chevron U.S.A. Incorporated, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- May 07 2025Letter dated May 7, 2025 informing the Court that petitioner Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Company is withdrawing from the petition for certiorari filed.
- Apr 23 2025Brief of respondents Louisiana, et al. in opposition filed.
- Apr 23 2025Brief of respondents Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, et al. in opposition filed.
- Mar 24 2025Brief amici curiae of Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al. filed.
- Mar 24 2025Brief amici curiae of General (Retired) Richard B. Myers, et al. filed.
- Mar 11 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including April 23, 2025, for all respondents.
- Mar 10 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 24, 2025 to April 23, 2025, submitted to The Clerk.
- Feb 28 2025Brief amici curiae of American Petroleum Institute, et al. filed.
- Feb 21 2025Response Requested. (Due March 24, 2025)
- Feb 18 2025Letter from counsel for petitioners of Chevron U.S.A. Incorporated, et al. submitted.
- Feb 12 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/28/2025.
- Feb 11 2025Waiver of right of respondents Louisiana, through the Department of Energy & Natural Resources, and its Assistant Secretary, Keith Lovell to respond filed.
- Feb 10 2025Waiver of right of respondents Plaquemines Parish and Louisiana ex rel. Parish of Plaquemines; Parish of Cameron and Louisiana ex rel. Parish of Cameron to respond filed.
- Feb 05 2025Waiver of right of respondent Louisiana to respond filed.
- Jan 29 2025Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 3, 2025)