U.S. Supreme Court Throws Americans Under the Bus in Monsanto v. Durnell

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a devastating blow to consumers, cancer victims, and the fundamental principle that corporations should be held accountable when their products cause harm.

In a 7-2 ruling in Monsanto v. Durnell, the Court sided with Monsanto, finding that federal pesticide law shields the company from state-law failure-to-warn lawsuits over Roundup and its alleged cancer risks. Only Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

The decision overturns a Missouri jury verdict awarded to John Durnell, a man who developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma after years of using Roundup. It also threatens thousands of similar cases across the country.

We are deeply disappointed.

The question is… How did we get here? 

Supreme Court justices generally give deference to a Department of Justice U.S. solicitor general’s conclusions. 

Monsanto previously appealed a similar Roundup-cancer verdict to the Supreme Court. In May of 2022, the Biden administration Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said in a court filing that Bayer’s appeal should be rejected.

Conversely, in 2025, the Trump administration Solicitor General John Sauer urged the Supreme Court in a written brief to take up the Durnell appeal by Bayer.

The high court agreed to hear Bayer’s appeal in March 2026. Then, in the Supreme Court hearing, Trump’s Principal Deputy Solicitor General Sarah M. Harris argued in favor of granting Bayer-Monsanto immunity. It was only after the Trump Administration stepped in and urged the Court to embrace Monsanto’s preemption argument that the justices agreed to hear Monsanto v. Durnell.

Before serving in government, Harris was an appellate partner at the elite Washington law firm Williams & Connolly LLP, a firm that actively represented Bayer-Monsanto, defending the company in major high-stakes product liability litigation. Bayer made a contribution of $1 million to Trump’s 2025 presidential inaugural committee. And the Trump administration is stacked with Bayer-Monsanto and chemical industry lobbyists.

Today, the Court delivered exactly what Bayer-Monsanto sought: broad protection from thousands of failure-to-warn claims brought by cancer victims and their families. For many Americans, this will be seen as yet another example of government and corporate power aligning against the rights of ordinary people seeking justice.

For generations, Americans have relied on the courts as a last line of defense when government regulators fail to protect public health. Today’s ruling weakens that safeguard by effectively telling consumers that if a federal agency approves a product label—even when legitimate scientific concerns remain unresolved—companies may be insulated from accountability.

This decision should concern every American, regardless of political affiliation.

The ruling extends far beyond Bayer-Monsanto and Roundup. It will also affect the thousands of failure-to-warn lawsuits against ChemChina-Syngenta by plaintiffs who developed Parkinson’s disease from using the company’s paraquat herbicide, Gramoxone. Beyond that, it creates a dangerous precedent that corporations may use federal regulatory approval and inadequate product labels as a shield against state-level consumer protection laws and civil liability. 

The constitutional promise of equal justice under the law means that ordinary people should have the opportunity to seek redress when they have been harmed. Yet today’s decision narrows that opportunity and concentrates even more power in the hands of large corporations.

At GMO/Toxin Free USA, we believe that no corporation should be above accountability. Companies that profit from products linked to serious health concerns should not be protected simply because regulators failed to require stronger warnings.

While today’s decision is deeply troubling, it does not end the fight for transparency, corporate accountability, and stronger protections for public health. The fight is not over. Supreme Court rulings can be overturned. 

We will continue advocating for independent science, stronger pesticide regulations, and the right of consumers to know the risks associated with the products they use.

The health and safety of our families should never take a back seat to corporate profits.

Thank you for standing with us.

In solidarity,

Diana Reeves
Executive Director
GMO/Toxin Free USA