7/02/2025

UPPER MICHIGAN - The U.S. Supreme Court will decide if a lawsuit over Line 5 should be heard in state or federal courts. The nations highest court will review Attorney General Dana Nessel’s (D-Michigan) lawsuit to shut down Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac due to what she claims is an unacceptable risk to the Great Lakes.  In 2021, Enbridge moved this lawsuit to federal court, arguing the pipeline affects U.S. and Canadian trade and is by nature a federal issue.  But in 2024, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Enbridge missed the 30-day deadline to change jurisdictions. It returned the case to the state level.  Enbridge requested in January that the Supreme Court review that decision, which the Supreme Court announced Monday it will do.  Enbridge says that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan had already determined “exceptional circumstances” allowed them to exceed the 30-day time limit and that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision “conflicted with those of two other federal appeals courts”  The Supreme Court will decide if an exception to the 30-day deadline is justified in Enbridge’s case, and in doing so, which court should oversee the case. A timeline for that decision has not been released.