Dec 11 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's administration

is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reject efforts by oil

companies and Republican state attorneys general to prevent

state and local governments from pursuing lawsuits accusing the

fossil fuel producers of deceiving the public about climate

change.

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar in briefs filed on

Tuesday said the justices should reject an appeal by oil

companies of a Hawaii Supreme Court ruling allowing Honolulu to

sue them and a separate bid by 19 Republican-led states to block

five Democratic-led states from pursuing similar cases.

The filings come in the final weeks of the Democratic

president's administration before Republican President-elect

Donald Trump takes office Jan. 20. Trump on the campaign trail

pledged to stop the "frivolous litigation."

The 6-3 conservative majority Supreme Court had sought the

views of the solicitor general in the two separate cases in June

and October.

In the Hawaii litigation, the city and county of Honolulu

filed a lawsuit in 2020 accusing oil and gas companies including

Sunoco ( SUN ), Exxon Mobil ( XOM ), BP, Chevron ( CVX )

and Shell of misleading the public for decades about

the dangers of climate change induced by burning fossils fuels.

The companies in February asked the Supreme Court to review

a November 2023 decision by the Hawaii Supreme Court that

rejected their argument that the lawsuit sought to regulate

emissions or interstate commerce, powers reserved for the

federal government.

Prelogar, though, argued that the U.S. Supreme Court should

avoid considering that issue at this time, saying the companies

were still raising other constitutional arguments at the

lower-court level that could dispose of the case.

Theodore Boutrous, a lawyer for Chevron ( CVX ) at Gibson, Dunn &

Crutcher, in a statement argued Supreme Court review was

warranted at this time "to prevent pointless harm to our

nation's energy security."

Prelogar also urged the justices not to allow Republican

state attorneys general to sue Democratic-led California,

Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island to block

lawsuits they filed against Exxon, Shell, BP and other

companies.

That case was filed directly with the U.S. Supreme Court.

Under the U.S. Constitution, the high court has "original

jurisdiction" in a small set of cases pitting states against

states.

The Republican-led states argue that by suing major energy

companies in state court seeking damages for the harms of

climate change, the Democratic-led states are essentially trying

to regulate global emissions and the U.S. energy system.

Prelogar countered that "there is no merit to the contention

that the federal common law of trans-boundary air pollution

governs (and therefore precludes)" the Democratic-led states'

claims.

But she said regardless, the Republican-led states lacked

standing to pursue their claims in the first place, saying they

wanted to sue over the "speculative" possibility that a state

court might someday hold private companies, not the states

themselves, liable for climate change deception.

A spokesperson for Republican Alabama Attorney General Steve

Marshall, who is leading the lawsuit, did not immediately

respond to a request for comment.

The cases at the U.S. Supreme Court are Sunoco ( SUN ) v. City and

County of Honolulu, No. 23-947, and Alabama v. California, U.S.

Supreme Court, No. 22O158.

For the Republican-led states: Edmund LaCour of the Alabama

Attorney General's Office

For the Democratic-led states: Julie Veroff of the

California Department of Justice

For the U.S. government: Solicitor General Elizabeth

Prelogar

For Sunoco ( SUN ): Kannon Shanmugam of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind,

Wharton & Garrison

For Shell: David Frederick of Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel &

Frederick

Read more:

Supreme Court seeks US views on Republican AGs challenge to

climate change cases

Republican-led states ask Supreme Court to quash Big Oil

climate lawsuits

Exxon, Chevron ( CVX ) ask US Supreme Court to toss ruling in

Honolulu climate change suit

US Supreme Court rebuffs Exxon, Chevron ( CVX ) appeals in climate

cases

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston)