A champion among environmental activists and a villain to the Trump administration and congressional Republicans, the ambitious attorney’s latest gambit — representing Multnomah County, Oregon, in a $51 billion lawsuit that accuses the oil and gas industry of contributing to a heat wave that killed 69 people in 2021 — has landed him in the hot seat before the House Judiciary Committee.

Attorneys and public officials from states, cities, counties, and tribal governments with climate accountability cases pending against fossil fuel companies are calling on U.S. Senate leaders to reject legislation that would hand the industry sweeping immunity from accountability.