A federal judge for the Northern District of California dismissed a suit the state brought against car manufacturers accusing them of “creating, and contributing to, an alleged public nuisance–global warming.”

Judge Martin Jenkins said a resolution of the case would force the court to resolve an issue that should be handled by the government's policy-making branches.

“Because a comprehensive global warming solution must be achieved by a broad array of domestic and international measures that are yet undefined, it would be premature and inappropriate for this Court to wade into this type of policy-making determination before the elected branches have done so,” Jenkins wrote.

In addition, because the exact causes and effects of global warming are unknown, a court hearing the case would be “left without a manageable method of discerning the entities that are creating and contributing to the alleged nuisance,” Jenkins wrote. “In this case, there are multiple worldwide sources of atmospheric warming across myriad industries and multiple countries.”

Former California Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed the suit last year against defendants General Motors, Honda and DaimlerChrysler as well as the North American branches of Toyota, Ford and Nissan.

The automakers' court victory comes on the heels of a Vermont district court's refusal to block the state's adoption of California vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards, which automakers had challenged.