The Supreme Court this week waded into a yearslong legal dispute over the operation of the Line 5 pipeline — and it might not be the last time the justices influence the fate of the aging oil conduit.
On Tuesday, the high court heard oral arguments on whether Enbridge Energy could transfer a case challenging Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s shutdown order for the pipeline in the Great Lakes from state to federal court. The justices did not clearly show how they were likely to rule in the case.
But the court has yet to decide whether to grant a separate pending petition from Whitmer, a Democrat, asking the court to weigh in on whether the state has immunity from another suit brought by Enbridge in federal court.
The two cases are part of a broader battle over Line 5, a more than 70-year-old pipeline that stretches from Wisconsin to Canada.
