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19 state attorneys general challenge blue states' 'radical' climate policies impacting others

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19 state attorneys general challenge blue states' 'radical' climate policies impacting others

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Alabama is spearheading a coalition of 18 Republican-led states in a federal lawsuit against five Democrat-run states, alleging the latter are trying to coerce the former into complying with strict climate-conscious policies that could imperil their residents’ access to affordable energy.

The filing was made at the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday as the plaintiffs argued that Democrat-led states California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island are essentially forcing residents of politically opposed states to feel repercussions of their restrictions and, therefore, are dictating national energy policy.

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“California and New Jersey and the defendant states are trying to make national energy policy through state laws,” said Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, one state official who is party to the lawsuit. “And if the Supreme Court does not step in, they may succeed.” 

“If the defendant states’ laws have their desired effects, fossil fuel energy companies across the nation will either be hit with massive damages or have to change their policies directly. And, those defendant states will affect the availability of cheap, affordable energy in our states,” he said.

“One state does not have the right to control policy in another state.”

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Of criticisms that it may not be apropos to escalate such a case immediately to the Supreme Court, Kobach said this is a rare instance where it is needed. He said the high bench has always had jurisdiction over interstate quarrels and that the “opposing interests” in this filing are especially stark.

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Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who is leading the charge, told Fox News Digital he has the right to take the complaint directly to the Supreme Court because it has original jurisdiction over state action. He pointed to other cases in which one state takes legal action against another and makes its plea to the high court.

“When you have two sovereigns that are making claims against one another, it is the appropriate venue for those claims to be heard,” he said.

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Marshall said the crux of the matter is essentially that defendant states are crafting climate policies that will have an undue effect on Alabama and its fellow plaintiff states.

“I think one of the things that is so most objectionable is the fact they are using common law claims, plus the statutory Deceptive Trade Practices Act claims, as a vehicle to engage in climate policy,” he said.

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“I think, broadly, the issue is how does this affect the constituents of our individual states? And so the legitimate question is: Why should we care in Alabama how California chooses to operate in the state courts themselves?”

“Well, if California prevails, they’re really going to be able to do two things. They’re going to be able to impose a tax on carbon because that’s what [legal] ‘damages’ truly are in these cases,” Marshall said.

He expressed hope the Supreme Court would agree that energy and climate policy is a federal issue and not one the states can dictate in a way that could affect others.

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The legal complaint reads in part: “Defendant States want a global carbon tax on the traditional energy industry” … “In their view, a small gas station in rural Alabama could owe damages to the people of Minnesota simply for selling a gallon of gas.” 

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The complaint cited API v. Minnesota, a case brought against energy firms for alleged harm caused by their contributions to global warming, among other things.

It also referenced a case from 1981 brought against West Virginia by bordering states who took issue with a policy that required Mountaineer natural gas producers to meet local needs before exporting their valuable energy source.

Kobach said this current multiparty lawsuit is one of a few qualified cases that should be heard first and ultimately by the Supreme Court:

“A relatively small number of cases can go directly to the Supreme Court because they are complex between one state and another or one group of states and another group of states,” Kobach said, adding that the high bench has at times declined to hear such cases.

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Asked about what plaintiff states’ resources might be if New Jersey, California and the others are permitted to continue crafting policy with alleged wider-reaching effects than statutorily permitted, Kobach said Kansas, for example, has limited recourse.

“The second course of action would be [to] seek legislation in Congress, preempting what the defendant states have done, but that is a difficult process,” he said.

“It takes a long time, and it may come too late, depending on what happens in these defendant states.”

Kobach said the current suit is not the first of its kind. The Supreme Court previously upheld California’s sow housing law that plaintiffs said led to an avoidable spike in the cost of bacon and other pork products outside California.

Efforts to reach representatives for the defendant states in the case were unsuccessful.

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Editor’s Note: This story originally reported 12 states had signed onto the lawsuit. Since its publication, that number has increased to 19. 

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GOP Rep Nancy Mace introduces ‘Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act’

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GOP Rep Nancy Mace introduces ‘Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act’

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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., has introduced a bill to authorize the death penalty as a potential punishment for the sexual abuse of children.

“We have zero mercy for child rapists. Those who prey on our most vulnerable deserve the harshest consequence we can deliver,” Mace said in a statement.

The proposal is aptly called the “Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act.”

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., announces she will run for South Carolina governor during a press conference at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, on Aug. 4, 2025. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

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“No predator should be allowed to walk away from the most unthinkable crimes against children,” Mace noted. 

“This bill is simple. Rape a child and you don’t get a second chance, you get the death penalty. We will never apologize for protecting America’s children,” Mace added.

The bill would put capital punishment on the table as an option to punish those who sexually abuse children.

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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., attends the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C.  (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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“INTRODUCING: The Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act to amend Title 18 to authorize the death penalty for aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse of a minor and abusive sexual contact offenses against children. It will also amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to authorize the death penalty for the rape of a child,” she said in a post on X.

“We’ve spent months fighting to expose Jeffrey Epstein’s network of powerful predators. We’ve demanded accountability and pushed for transparency. Now we’re making sure anyone who rapes a child faces the ultimate consequence,” she noted.

Mace has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since early 2021. 

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She is one of the candidates currently running in the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary.

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Virginia Democrats talk affordability — and vote to nearly triple their own pay

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Virginia Democrats talk affordability — and vote to nearly triple their own pay

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The Virginia State Senate and its Democratic majority may have voted to nearly triple their pay if a provision inserted into their final budget survives the House reconciliation process and reaches Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk.

The development comes as Spanberger has centered her campaign on “affordability,” with Richmond Democrats echoing that they are working to improve their constituents’ personal finances.

Virginia’s legislature itself was founded as a part-time, gentleman’s chamber, where lawmakers would return to their day jobs when Richmond wasn’t holding session.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signs executive orders. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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Proponents of raising the current 1988-established salary of $18,000 for senators and $17,640 for delegates say the structure restricts who can afford to serve as a lawmaker today. Lawmakers also qualify for a $237 per diem, mileage reimbursements, and coverage of office, meeting and other expenses.

Senators’ new salary would be $50,000.

Republicans were quick to criticize the final budget, with the Virginia Senate Minority Caucus saying in a statement that “teachers got a 3% raise, but Democrats give themselves 300%.” The actual increase would be closer to 178%, though one could say the new salary would be 300% of the original. 

“The affordability hoax just gets worse and worse,” the caucus said, adding that the chamber’s majority killed a repeal of the car tax — something GOP gubernatorial nominee Winsome Sears ran on — while increasing the state budget by $1 billion overall.

Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham, told WVTF it is the “wrong time” to address lawmaker pay.

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 “It’s supposed to be affordability for working families across Virginia, not members of the General Assembly,” he said.

Virginia’s legislature — the oldest continuous legislative body in the New World — has been making laws since its inception as the House of Burgesses in Colonial Williamsburg, where Spanberger gave the Democratic Party’s State of the Union response.

In her speech, she claimed President Donald Trump is the one “enriching himself, his family and his friends” and said Republicans are the ones “making your life more expensive.”

“I traveled to every corner of Virginia, and I heard the same pressing concern everywhere: costs are too high. In housing, healthcare, energy, and childcare,” she said.

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“Americans deserve to know that their leaders are focused on addressing the problems that keep them up at night.”

“Democrats across the country are laser-focused on affordability — in our nation’s capital and in state capitals and communities across America,” Spanberger said Tuesday.

The pay raise could be moot if the Democrat-controlled House of Delegates does not amend its own budget proposal to include the provision.

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The House’s budget includes $137 million for expanded childcare access, a minimum wage increase to $13.75 in 2027 and $15 in 2029, and a $20 million appropriation for state employees’ and home health care workers’ collective bargaining, according to Washington’s ABC affiliate.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the governor, as well as the House and Senate minority leaders, for further comment.

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Virginia murder suspect in bus stop stabbing had lengthy criminal history, multiple dropped charges

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Virginia murder suspect in bus stop stabbing had lengthy criminal history, multiple dropped charges

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A Virginia murder suspect accused of fatally stabbing a woman at a bus stop earlier this week has a lengthy criminal history filled with multiple arrests, but was let back onto the streets nearly every time. 

Abdul Jalloh, 32, is charged with the Monday night killing of Stephanie Minter, 41, of Fredericksburg, at a bus stop shelter, the Fairfax County Police Department said. 

Minter was found by officers with stab wounds to her upper body and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. 

Abdul Jalloh, 32, is accused of killing Stephanie Minter, 41, at a Virginia bus stop.  (Fairfax County Police Department; provided)

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Jalloh, 32, who was seen on surveillance cameras exiting the bus with Minter at Richmond Highway and Arlington Drive, was arrested the next day. 

He was arrested at a liquor store after an employee called 911. At the time, officers arrested him for allegedly shoplifting. Investigators linked him to the murder a day later. 

Authorities were still trying to determine a motive for the killing and what led to the deadly stabbing. 

A search of online court records revealed Jalloh has more than a dozen arrests in northern Virginia, including on charges of petty larceny and malicious wounding. 

In most of the cases, prosecutors dropped the charges, FOX D.C. reported. 

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Abdul Jalloh seen on a bus in Virginia.  (Fairfax County Police Department)

Laura Birnbaum, the chief of staff for Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, said Jalloh was known to the district attorney’s office and was “acutely aware of the risk he posed to the community.”

“That is why we convicted the defendant of a 2023 malicious wounding charge, and have since made every effort to hold him accountable each subsequent time that he has come in contact with the criminal justice system, including asking him to be held in custody whenever possible,” Birnbaum said. 

“Unfortunately, the defendant in this case also had a history of selecting victims with no fixed address – some of the most vulnerable members of our community,” she added. “In multiple cases, we were unable to move forward with prosecution because victims could not be located or contacted.”

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Stephanie Minter, 41, was killed on Monday after getting off of a bus in Virginia.  (Provided)

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An obituary for Minter described her as a “happy, jolly” person. 

“A beam of light in dark places,” the obituary states. 

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