The Oklahoma Attorney General is putting up more of a fight in the lawsuit against State Treasurer Todd Russ over his enforcement of the state’s controversial Oklahoma Energy Discrimination Elimination Act. The Act is better known as an “anti-ESG” law created to protect Oklahoma’s oil and gas industry from discrimination by financial firms.
This month, the Attorney General’s office, in a filing with Oklahoma County District Judge Sheila Stinson, informed the judge the “state wants to bring finality to this matter as soon as possible.” It was Judge Stinson who first issued a temporary suspension of the Treasurer’s boycotting of financial firms that discriminate against the oil and gas industry, then issued a more permanent decision in late July to extend her first ruling.
But the Attorney General’s office maintains the May 7 grant of a preliminary injunction is “not moot because final judgment has not yet been entered in the District Court.”
The Judge has to consider the state’s latest filing as well as a motion for summary judgment filed by state retiree Don Keenan who filed the lawsuit in December of last year. He argued the Act, passed by the Oklahoma legislature in 2022, is unconstitutional and harmful to state pension systems.
Keenan’s move for a summary judgment could mean a final and permanent decision without a trial. But attorneys for the state argue “an appeal of a preliminary injunction is only moot when a “trial on the merits has been determined all of the issues involved.””
Judge Stinson did not rule on all of the legal challenges made in the Keenan lawsuit. And the Attorney General’s office maintains the lawsuit is alie and well.
“In sum, this appeal is still live as the District Court has not issued a final judgment, final order, or permanent injunction on the claims disputed in this appeal.”
