--- title: ExxonMobil Climate Change Probe Proceeds With Ruling description: ExxonMobil must hand over documents related to its research on climate change in connection with an ongoing investigation, a judge ruled canonical: https://time.com/4633214/exxonmobil-climate-change-judge/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-12T18:40:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:42:20.174Z article:section: Politics og:title: Judge Rules ExxonMobil Must Hand Over 41 Years of Climate Documents og:description: A judge rejected ExxonMobil's plea to halt an investigation og:url: https://time.com/4633214/exxonmobil-climate-change-judge/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43bb6b51a9c7691a/6988b558ab6d77c1ed6ac74a/exxonmobil-climate-change-probe.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4256 og:image:height: 2394 og:image:alt: exxonmobil climate change probe og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Judge Rules ExxonMobil Must Hand Over 41 Years of Climate Documents twitter:description: A judge rejected ExxonMobil's plea to halt an investigation twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43bb6b51a9c7691a/6988b558ab6d77c1ed6ac74a/exxonmobil-climate-change-probe.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Judge Rules ExxonMobil Must Hand Over 41 Years of Climate Documents > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jan 12, 2017 6:40 PM UTC  A picture shows the logo of US oil and gas giant ExxonMobil during the World Gas Conference exhibition in Paris on June 2, 2015. A picture shows the logo of US oil and gas giant ExxonMobil during the World Gas Conference exhibition in Paris on June 2, 2015. Eric Piermont—AFP/Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jan 12, 2017 6:40 PM UTC ExxonMobil must hand over documents related to its research on climate change dating back to 1976 in connection with an ongoing investigation by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, a judge in that state [ruled](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3280264-Mass-Judges-Rules-for-Healey-Jan-11-2107.html) this week. The oil company—the country’s largest—had argued that Healey lacked jurisdiction to investigate the Texas-based oil company and filed litigation in a federal court in its home state in hopes of blocking the probe. Healey—along with her [New York counterpart](http://time.com/4101957/new-york-exxon-mobil-investigation/) Eric Schneiderman—is investigating whether ExxonMobil misled investors about the risks of climate change. The company financed a robust climate research program but downplayed the risks in public statements, according to [reporting](http://graphics.latimes.com/exxon-research/) on the topic from the Los Angeles _Times_ and Inside Climate News. Healey did not need to prove that ExxonMobil had done anything wrong to win the documents, only that her investigation was reasonable and complied with the law. “Exxon must now end its obstructive tactics and come clean about whether it misled Massachusetts consumers and investors about what it knew about climate change, its causes and effects,” Healey spokeswoman Chloe Gotsis [told](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US%5FEXXON%5FMOBIL%5FCLIMATE?SITE=CAANR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT) the Associated Press a written statement. The news comes as the company’s former CEO Rex Tillerson [testifies](http://time.com/4631614/rex-tillerson-climate-change-paris-agreement/?xid=tcoshare) before Congress as the Senate considers his nomination to serve as U.S. Secretary of State. Tillerson declined to answer questions about the controversy and deferred to ExxonMobil in the hearing. Asked whether he did not have answers to the question or simply refusing to answer, Tillerson replied, “A little of both.” ExxonMobil has previously called the investigations politically motivated and has not responded publicly to this week’s ruling. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4633214/exxonmobil-climate-change-judge/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4633214/exxonmobil-climate-change-judge/"},"headline":"Judge Rules ExxonMobil Must Hand Over 41 Years of Climate Documents","datePublished":"2017-01-12T18:40:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:42:20.174Z","description":"A judge rejected ExxonMobil's plea to halt an investigation","url":"https://time.com/4633214/exxonmobil-climate-change-judge/","keywords":["climate change","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43bb6b51a9c7691a/6988b558ab6d77c1ed6ac74a/exxonmobil-climate-change-probe.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43bb6b51a9c7691a/6988b558ab6d77c1ed6ac74a/exxonmobil-climate-change-probe.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"exxonmobil climate change probe","caption":"exxonmobil climate change probe","creditText":"Eric Piermont—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate-change/","name":"climate change"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4633214/exxonmobil-climate-change-judge/","name":"Judge Rules ExxonMobil Must Hand Over 41 Years of Climate Documents"}}]}] ```