🌂 Top of the morning to you! It's Monday!

🌧️ Today's weather: Chance of more rain, with a high in the mid-80s. Hallelujah, the oven is finally cooling down.

🗳️ Situational awareness: Today's the last day to register to vote in Texas. It's a pretty big election, with lots on the ballot.

Today’s newsletter is 979 words — a 3.5-minute read.

The Supreme Court today will hear arguments in a case that could determine the fate of state-court lawsuits nationwide seeking climate damages from oil giants, including Houston-area-based ExxonMobil.

Why it matters: Billions and billions of dollars are at stake for the oil industry in dozens of cases brought by state and local governments.

• Governments face mounting costs from climate change that litigants link directly to the companies' products.

The big picture: The Supreme Court is considering whether federal law blocks damage claims under state laws for the effects of interstate and global emissions.

State of play: It's specifically about litigation against Exxon, based in Spring, and Suncor that the city and county of Boulder filed in 2018.

• But dozens of state-court cases are active in California, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts and beyond.
• The cases aren't identical. But overall they accuse oil giants of concealing risks or making deceptive statements, and seek damages for climate-related costs.

Zoom in: Those costs are especially relevant to our region. An Urban Institute analysis last year projected Harris County could see about $2.6 billion in annual property damage from climate-related hazards by 2050 — the most of any Gulf Coast county studied.

Here are a few big themes and dynamics:

• This is a blockbuster. The decision could be the culmination of an intense, years-long battle. There's a high level of organizing, lobbying and advocacy among industry and climate advocates alike around these state cases.
• A kicked can is possible. SCOTUS might not decide the question of federal preemption.
• Trump policies are a new(ish) wrinkle. U.S. and industry briefs argue that addressing an interstate and global topic with these state claims is preempted by federal law and the Constitution.
• There could be ripple effects. A ruling in favor of the oil companies could also jeopardize separate state climate policies.

What else to know

Sign up here for Axios' Future of Energy newsletter.

Lethal injections, including in Texas, are under scrutiny after Christa Pike survived two rounds of drugs during Tennessee's failed attempt last week to execute her.

Why it matters: Lethal injection has been the dominant U.S. execution method for decades, accounting for roughly 89% of the 1,683 executions carried out since 1976, per the Death Penalty Information Center.

• The nonprofit says 75 of 1,054 lethal injections (about 7%) were botched from 1890 to 2010 — the most of any method.

The big picture: Execution protocols vary by state, but lethal injections generally follow the same basic process.

Flashback: Lethal injections emerged after the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to return in the 1970s.

• Oklahoma became the first state to authorize the practice in 1977. Texas carried out its first lethal injection five years later and has carried out 601 executions since then.
• Before lethal injections, states commonly used methods like electrocution, gas, hanging and firing squads. Lawmakers considered injections to be less violent and cheaper.

Lethal injections are now used in all death penalty states.

What's next: The Texas Department of Criminal Justice told reporters last week Texas "stands ready" to carry out an execution scheduled for Wednesday.

What drugs are used in lethal injections

A former Harris County deputy was arrested after authorities allege he used his official position and wore his uniform to obtain sexual encounters. (Click2Houston)

🛑 Border wall construction in the Big Bend region was halted Friday by a federal judge. (Axios)

🎤 Carly Rae Jepsen is coming to 713 Music Hall on May 8 as part of her spring 2027 tour. (CultureMap)

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, has acquired new art spanning centuries, including a portrait by Joshua Johnson, one of America's first established Black painters.

Why it matters: The acquisitions expand the MFAH's collection, meaning Houstonians will have new works to see as they go on display.

Zoom in: Johnson's "Lady on a Red Sofa," painted around 1820 and one of his last known portraits, is on view in the museum's American art galleries. Acquiring a Johnson had been a longtime priority for the MFAH, per a museum announcement.

• Another acquisition, a rare unfinished "Portrait of a Woman" by famed British painter Joshua Reynolds, is on view at Rienzi.
• The MFAH also acquired a 400-year-old marble Medici-Farnese table inlaid with stones, which the museum calls an important rediscovery from Renaissance Florence's Grand Ducal workshops. It will go on view this fall.
• The museum also recently acquired a 17th-century French tapestry, and a pair of drawings by 19th-century French artist Théodore Géricault, among other works.

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Untitled Art, the contemporary art fair, returned to Houston this weekend for its second edition, with galleries reporting several high-dollar sales.

Zoom in: Notable sales included Mary McCleary's "Earth Felt the Wound" for $80,000 through Houston's Moody Gallery and Dorothy Hood's "Tixo in the Morning" for $95,000 through McClain Gallery to a new local collector.

The big picture: Texas has become an increasingly important market for high-end art, with its growing ranks of wealthy collectors drawing more galleries and art fairs to the state.

Thanks to Bob Gee for editing this newsletter.

📗 Shafaq is starting "Hollywood, Ending" by John Green for her book club.