How stupid can judges be?

The New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit, the federal court of appeals where I once clerked, has allowed a class action lawsuit by Hurricane Katrina victims to proceed against a motley crew of energy, oil, and chemical companies. Their claim: that the defendants’ greenhouse gas emissions raised air and water temperatures on the Gulf Coast, contributing to Katrina’s strength and causing property damage. Mass tort litigation specialist Russell Jackson calls the plaintiffs’ claims “the litigator’s equivalent to the game ‘Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.’”

So a judge has allows a class action lawsuit to move forward against a group of energy producers for a supposed condition (global warming) that has not been yet proven to be an effect at all, let alone an effect caused by humans. In addition, they are charging that these companies actually contributed to the severity of this storm. Un-friggen real!