Chevron USA Inc. v. Plaquemines Parish · ¶10

(c) The Court disagrees with the Fifth Circuit's two main reasons for ruling to the contrary. First, the Fifth Circuit reasoned that Chevron's refning contract did not specify how to obtain or produce crude oil, so Chevron's crude-oil production was unrelated to the performance of its federal refning duties. But the ordinary meaning of “relating to” does not require the defendant to show that his federal duties specifically invited his challenged conduct; Chevron's contract did not have to expressly direct or invite Chevron's crude-oil production for that conduct to “relate to” its avgas refning. Second, the Fifth Circuit reasoned that the Government's allocation of crude oil to refneries severed any relation between producing and refning. But an act can relate to its consequences even when the causal chain includes actions by intermediaries, see Morales, 504 U. S. 374; producing crude…

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