The Jury on Global Warming

A case scheduled to be argued in front of the nation's highest court could change the course of climate change policy.

The future of carbon dioxide regulation is up in the air, and it's not up to scientists or even industry to determine what lies ahead. Instead, that duty falls to experts in jurisprudence, not climatology.

Next summer, the Supreme Court will hear its first major global warming case: Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency. The case, which asks whether the federal government should have to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, will bring the science of climate change from the lab bench to the judicial bench—giving nine justices the chance to reshape the dialogue on global warming.