President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice went on offense Monday, filing a federal complaint against the State of Minnesota and Attorney General Keith Ellison over the state’s climate lawsuit targeting major energy companies. The DOJ says Minnesota is trying to use a state courtroom to regulate global greenhouse gas emissions, an area that belongs to the federal government. The filing asks a federal judge to shut the whole thing down. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, advances President Trump’s executive order directing the Justice Department to protect American energy from state overreach. DOJ sues Minnesota for attempting to force ‘woke climate preferences’ on the nation The DOJ is asking a federal court to declare Minnesota's lawsuit against oil companies unconstitutional, saying the state is "seeking to regulate conduct far beyond its territorial jurisdiction." pic.twitter.com/a8QhO2QUlh — Alpha News (@AlphaNews) May 4, 2026 The Justice Department laid out the stakes in its announcement of the filing: The Justice Department filed a complaint against Minnesota over what it describes as the state’s attempt to regulate global greenhouse gas emissions, an area DOJ says belongs to exclusive federal authority. The department says the filing advances President Donald J. Trump’s executive order directing DOJ to protect American energy from state overreach and seeks to stop enforcement of Minnesota’s state court lawsuit against energy companies. DOJ says Minnesota’s lawsuit usurps federal authority and unreasonably burdens domestic energy development. The department also says Minnesota is trying to make its climate preferences the governing policy for the entire nation rather than limiting them to Minnesota alone. The lawsuit argues that Minnesota’s state-court action is preempted by federal law and undermines affordable and reliable American energy, economic security, and national security. DOJ says the complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota and that similar federal actions were previously filed against Hawaii, Michigan, New York, and Vermont. DOJ files complaint against Minnesota over climate lawsuit targeting energy companies https://t.co/SxMbPToRAd — FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) May 4, 2026 The DOJ complaint goes further, describing the constitutional and legal theories behind the federal government’s challenge: The complaint says Minnesota’s state lawsuit seeks a global remedy for a global issue by trying to change the conduct of national energy producers on a global scale. The United States argues that federal law, rather than Minnesota law, governs disputes over global greenhouse gas emissions because national energy policy, interstate air pollution, and foreign affairs require a uniform federal approach. The complaint says Minnesota’s state-law claims are preempted by the Constitution and the Clean Air Act and also interfere with the United States’ ability to conduct foreign policy and regulate interstate commerce. DOJ further argues that Minnesota is attempting to project its law beyond its borders and impose its own moral and policy preferences for energy production on other states. The United States asks the court to declare Minnesota’s climate lawsuit preempted and unlawful, and says it will seek both preliminary and permanent injunctive relief to stop Minnesota from regulating global greenhouse gas emissions through that lawsuit. At the center of the fight is a state lawsuit Ellison filed back in June 2020 against ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, the American Petroleum Institute, and Flint Hills Resources. The Associated Press provided additional detail on the underlying case and the broader legal landscape: The Trump administration moved Monday to block a nearly six-year-old Minnesota lawsuit alleging that oil companies and a petroleum trade group deceived state residents about climate change. The Department of Justice filed its action in federal court in Minneapolis, arguing that the federal government holds authority over greenhouse gas emissions and that individual states cannot impose their own policy preferences on a national scale. The underlying state case dates to June 2020, when Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, the American Petroleum Institute, and Flint Hills Resources, a Koch subsidiary, accusing the companies and industry group of consumer fraud and deceptive trade practices related to public statements about fossil fuels and their environmental effects. At least fifteen other states have brought similar lawsuits against energy companies, including Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island, making the Minnesota case one thread in a much larger legal conflict over corporate climate disclosures and alleged misrepresentations. ExxonMobil officials had previously called the Minnesota action baseless, and the American Petroleum Institute stated that the industry provides reliable energy while actively working to reduce its environmental impact. Ellison responded to the DOJ filing by calling the federal intervention meritless. The federal action fits within a broader pattern of clashes between the Trump administration and Minnesota state officials, which has included prior disputes over federal immigration enforcement operations and separate federal investigations conducted within the state. The DOJ’s legal theory, if upheld, could potentially limit the ability of state attorneys general nationwide to pursue climate-related litigation against energy producers and trade organizations under state consumer protection statutes. The pattern here is unmistakable. Progressive attorneys general in deep-blue states have been filing climate lawsuits against American energy producers for years, hoping sympathetic state courts will do through litigation what these officials could never accomplish through legislation. The DOJ has now taken legal action against five states pursuing this strategy: Hawaii, Michigan, New York, Vermont, and now Minnesota. Ellison can call the filing meritless all he wants. The federal government’s argument is straightforward: one state does not get to use a consumer fraud lawsuit to dictate global energy policy for the entire country. The complaint is now before a federal judge in Minnesota. The DOJ says it will move quickly for a preliminary injunction to halt the state’s climate case while the federal challenge plays out. This fight is just getting started.