Supreme Court Seeks Government View on Bayer Roundup Appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked the solicitor general, the federal government’s top Supreme Court lawyer, to submit an opinion on whether the justices should hear Bayer’s challenge to a $1.2 million jury verdict that found its Roundup weedkiller caused a man’s cancer. The request pauses a decision on the company’s petition and effectively draws the Trump administration into the long-running dispute over glyphosate, the herbicide’s active ingredient. Bayer, which acquired Monsanto and its Roundup brand in 2018, argues that federal law pre-empts state-level failure-to-warn claims because the Environmental Protection Agency continues to deem glyphosate non-carcinogenic and bars cancer warnings on the product’s label. A Supreme Court review could shape the fate of tens of thousands of similar lawsuits that together threaten the German group with potential liabilities running into the billions. Chief Executive Officer Bill Anderson called the court’s request for government input “encouraging,” though the referral extends the timeline for any definitive ruling. Analysts expect the solicitor general to take several months to respond, meaning the justices are unlikely to decide whether to accept the case before late 2025 or early 2026.