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Supreme Court heard case on how to label risks of popular weed killer
A French farmer sprays Roundup 720 glyphosate herbicide produced by U.S. agrochemical giant Monsanto in 2018 on a field of no-till corn in northwestern France. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heard a dispute over labels on the popular Roundup pesticide, which thousands of plaintiffs blame for their cancers.
Jean-Francois Monier/AFP via Getty Images
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Jean-Francois Monier/AFP via Getty Images
A divided U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heard a dispute over labels on the popular Roundup weed killer, which thousands of people blame for their cancers.
How the Supreme Court rules could have implications for tens of thousands of lawsuits against Roundup maker Monsanto, which is now owned by Bayer. The case centers on who decides about warning labels on chemicals: the federal government — or states or juries.
The main plaintiff in Monday’s case is John Durnell. Durnell in 2019 sued Monsanto in a state court in Missouri, alleging he contracted non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma because of his 20-year exposure to glyphosate, a chemical included in the weed killer. Durnell regularly sprayed the weed killer throughout his neighborhood.
A jury sided with Durnell on his claim that Monsanto had failed to properly warn users about risks, awarding him more than $1 million in damages.
Missouri law bans the sale of dangerous pesticides that lack an “adequate warning,” Durnell’s lawyer Ashley Keller wrote. Keller says the key questions are for juries to decide.
Durnell is one of tens of thousands of people to sue because they say they faced harm because of Roundup. Those plaintiffs have experienced mixed success in the lower courts.
Monsanto argues those claims should have been preempted by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, which requires manufacturers to register pesticides with the EPA before selling them, which Monsanto did. The EPA also signs off on labels for those pesticides.
Paul Clement, a former solicitor general and a lawyer for Monsanto, argued that it’s important to have a uniform standard nationwide.
“It’s probably the most like studied herbicide in the history of man and they’ve all reached the conclusion, based on more data and the kind of expert analysis they can do, that there isn’t a risk here,” he told the justices. “You shouldn’t let a single Missouri jury second guess that judgment.”
The justices will not be evaluating whether glyphosate causes cancer. Rather, they’ll consider who should decide what appears on warning labels and whether states have a role to play after the EPA weighs in.
The current U.S. solicitor general backed Monsanto. Sarah Harris, his principal deputy, said the Environmental Protection Agency is in the driver’s seat, not anyone in Missouri.
“Missouri thus requires adding cancer warnings but federal law requires EPA to approve new warnings and tasks EPA with deciding what label changes would mitigate any health risks,” Harris argued. “State law must give way.”
Several justices, including Brett Kavanaugh, appeared to agree with Monsanto’s argument about the need for a single, uniform standard across the country.
But others, like Chief Justice John Roberts, wondered what would happen if the federal government moved more slowly than states did, who wanted to act quickly on information about new dangers.
“Well, it does undermine the uniformity,” Roberts said. “On the other hand, if it turns out they were right, it might have been good if they had an opportunity to do something, to call this danger to the attention of people while the federal government was going through its process,” he said about states.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked about the emergence of new science, and the EPA’s reviews.
“There’s a 15-year window between when that product has to be re-registered again and lots of things can happen in science, in terms of development about the product,” she said.
Bayer, which now owns Monsanto, only sells Roundup that contains glyphosate to farmers and businesses these days. Bayer has been pushing to resolve scores of the residential cases through a sweeping settlement, trying to put the costly claims behind it.
Note: Map shows the area with a shake intensity of 3 or greater, which U.S.G.S. defines as “weak,” though the earthquake may be felt outside the areas shown. The New York Times
A minor, 3.3-magnitude earthquake struck in Southern California on Monday, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The temblor happened at 7:47 a.m. Pacific time about 4 miles southwest of Redlands, Calif., data from the agency shows.
U.S.G.S. data earlier reported that the magnitude was 3.4.
As seismologists review available data, they may revise the earthquake’s reported magnitude. Additional information collected about the earthquake may also prompt U.S.G.S. scientists to update the shake-severity map.
Aftershocks detected
Subsequent quakes have been reported in the same area. Such temblors are typically aftershocks caused by minor adjustments along the portion of a fault that slipped at the time of the initial earthquake.
Quakes and aftershocks within 100 miles
Aftershocks can occur days, weeks or even years after the first earthquake. These events can be of equal or larger magnitude to the initial earthquake, and they can continue to affect already damaged locations.
When quakes and aftershocks occurred
Source: United States Geological Survey | Notes: Shaking categories are based on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. When aftershock data is available, the corresponding maps and charts include earthquakes within 100 miles and seven days of the initial quake. All times above are Pacific time. Shake data is as of Monday, April 27 at 11:48 a.m. Eastern. Aftershocks data is as of Monday, April 27 at 11:33 a.m. Eastern.
Satellite ephemerides data provided by Comspoc, a space situational awareness software company, and Spaceflux, a space domain awareness company. Historical launch and orbital data provided by Space-Track. Visuals were created for conceptual accuracy, but 3D models and points are not always to scale. Altitudes, when relevant, are to scale relative to the size of the Earth.
Additional work by Jana Tauschinski and Ian Bott
This handout photo released by the Iranian foreign ministry shows Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar (L) greeting his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi upon his arrival in Islamabad on April 24, 2026.
/Iranian Foreign Ministry/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
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/Iranian Foreign Ministry/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
Iran’s foreign minister arrived in Russia on Monday, after a whirlwind weekend of diplomacy, seeking to gain political leverage and foreign backing as peace talks with the U.S. remain on hold.
But missing from this flurry of diplomacy is any sign of a meeting between Washington and Tehran.
Abbas Araghchi was in Islamabad last week but left on Saturday, prompting President Trump to cancel the U.S. negotiating team’s own planned travel to the Pakistani capital.
Araghchi went instead to Oman – which is situated directly across the Strait of Hormuz from Iran – and met Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al and his Omani counterpart.
“Important discussions on bilateral matters and regional developments. As only Hormuz littoral states, our focus included ways to ensure safe transit that is to benefit of all dear neighbors and the world,” Araghchi said on X. “Our neighbors are our priority.”
For his part, Oman Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi said he had “a fruitful discussion on the Strait of Hormuz…. As two coastal states, we feel our shared responsibility toward the international community and the urgent humanitarian need to release the sailors who have been detained for a long time.”
“This requires intensive diplomatic efforts and practical solutions to ensure permanent freedom of navigation,” he added.
Araghchi also spoke by phone with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt.
From Oman, he ping-ponged back to Pakistan on Sunday, and on Monday Araghchi arrived in Russia, one of Iran’s major allies.
In St. Petersburg he is expected to meet with President Vladimir Putin and plans to “discuss war-related developments and coordinate positions,” he said, according to the state-affiliated Tasnim news agency.
In this picture obtained from Iran’s ISNA news agency on April 24, 2026, Iranians are seen at Suru Beach in Bandar Abbas along the Strait of Hormuz.
Razieh Poudat/AFP via Getty Images
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Razieh Poudat/AFP via Getty Images
Who has ‘the cards’?
While in Pakistan, Iranian media reported Araghchi gave Pakistani mediators a list of “red lines” for negotiations, including on nuclear issues and the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump has repeatedly said the complete eradication of Iran’s atomic program is the key U.S. demand.
Over the weekend, Trump said: “We have all the cards. If they want to talk, they can come to us, or they can call us.”
Iran’s parliamentary speaker and lead negotiator took to social media to challenge Trump’s comments.
“They brag about the cards. Let’s see,” Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on X. He then presented a complicated supply and demand equation that he intended to show the economic challenges faced by the U.S.
A helicopter flies over the Red Zone area of Islamabad on April 25, 2026.
Asif Hassan/AFP via Getty Images
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Asif Hassan/AFP via Getty Images
But Iran is also facing the consequences of the U.S. Naval Blockade on its ports. Trump told Fox News on Sunday Iran has just three days of storage left before its oil pipelines explode from pressure, since it’s running out of ships to store it on.
Asked about that timeline, Amena Bakr, the head of Mideast Energy at research firm Kpler, told NPR that while Iran is running out of storage, it’s closer to 20 days at current production levels.
Bakr also said Iran has a southern terminal outside the strait of Hormuz that could be used for re-routing oil, provided they can get their ships there and bypass the U.S. blockade.
Aya Batrawy in Dubai and Kate Bartlett in Johannesburg contributed to this report.
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