WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday threw cold water on the effort by states to attack global warming through litigation against power companies.

Seven of the eight justices participating in oral arguments in the case of American Electric Power v. Connecticut, 10-174, offered comments or questions that appeared critical of the scope or concept of a suit against major utilities that claims their output of greenhouse gases is a public nuisance under federal common law. The eighth justice, Clarence Thomas, asked no questions as usual. And the ninth, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, did not participate because she heard the case when she sat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

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