Ninth Circuit Clears SB 253 Scope 1 & 2 Reporting, Faults Scope 3
The Ninth Circuit left California's SB 253 Scope 1 and 2 emissions deadline standing for November 10, 2026, but held Scope 3 reporting and SB 261 climate-risk reports likely unconstitutional and remanded on severability.
On November 9, 2026, the Ninth Circuit held that California's SB 253 climate disclosure law likely survives First Amendment intermediate scrutiny as applied to Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, leaving the November 10, 2026 first-year reporting deadline in effect for covered entities (U.S.-based companies with more than $1 billion in revenue doing business in California), which must still submit 2025 data or a statement of non-reporting through the Air Resources Board's intake channel. The court reached the opposite result for Scope 3 emissions and for SB 261's climate-related financial risk reporting, characterizing both as noncommercial speech subject to strict scrutiny and finding them insufficiently tailored because the record offered scant evidence that compelled reporting would reduce emissions. The panel remanded to the Central District of California to determine whether the Scope 3 provisions can be severed, while Judge Bennett concurred in part and dissented in part, arguing both statutes compel noncommercial speech and should have been enjoined entirely. Counsel should watch the 14-day rehearing or en banc window, any certiorari petition, the expected follow-on injunction, and the read-across to other states' disclosure proposals and to voluntary sustainability disclosure framing.