Chevron USA Inc. v. Plaquemines Parish

608 U. S. 1 (2026) · 4/17/26

Chevron has plausibly alleged a close relationship between its challenged crude-oil production and the performance of its federal aviation gas refining duties and has therefore satisfied the “relating to” requirement of the federal officer removal statute, 28 U. S. C. §1442(a)(1).

The federal officer removal statute, 28 U. S. C. § 1442(a)(1), authorizes removal of state-court suits against federal officers or persons “acting under” them “for or relating to any act under color of such office.” This case concerns whether, for purposes of the statute, a state-court environmental suit challenging Chevron's crude-oil production during the Second World War is “for or relating to” Chevron's wartime refning of crude oil into aviation gasoline for the U. S. military. In 1978, Louisiana enacted the State and Local Coastal Resources Management Act, which prohibited certain uses…

Held: Chevron has plausibly alleged a close relationship between its challenged crude-oil production and the performance of its federal avgas refning duties—not a tenuous, remote, or peripheral one—and has therefore satisfied the “relating to” requirement of the federal officer removal statute. Pp. 10–15. (a) The phrase “relating to” sweeps broadly, meaning “ `to stand in some relation; to have bearing or concern; to pertain; refer; to bring into association with or connection with.' ” Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 504 U. S. 374, 383. One thing can relate to another even if the…