Justice Samuel Alito will not take part in Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, the major climate-liability case set for Supreme Court argument on October 5, the Court's clerk told the parties in a Monday letter that outlets including CNBC and The Hill reported and that CNBC updated into Tuesday afternoon.

Clerk Scott Harris wrote that Alito "has determined that he will not continue to participate in this case." The Court did not publish a reason. Boulder city and county seek damages under state law for climate harms allegedly tied to greenhouse-gas emissions; Suncor and Exxon Mobil argue federal law bars those claims. A Colorado trial court refused to dismiss the suit, and the state Supreme Court let it proceed toward trial. A 4-4 High Court split would leave that lower-court path in place.

Environmental and court-reform groups had pressed Alito to sit out because of oil-and-gas stock holdings disclosed in his financial reports. Those holdings do not include Exxon or Suncor as parties, and a Court spokeswoman told NBC News in May that Alito had no financial interest in any party and that Court counsel advised recusal was not required. Alito had declined to step aside after the Court took the case earlier this year, though he sat out a 2023 decision declining related jurisdictional review. Advocacy groups framed Monday's turnabout as proof that public pressure works; defenders note justices alone decide their own recusals and that no party-stock conflict was shown.

Oral argument remains October 5. Listeners can follow the Court's calendar and, after the sitting, oral-argument audio on supremecourt.gov. Unless the Court later says otherwise, Alito is out for this caption through the October argument and any decision that follows.