The court ruled on several other cases today, but the Exxon case remains pending. It's due out before the Supreme Court term ends, which is expected to happen this week.
The Supreme Court gives no hint of its decisions until they're released. The court said it will release its next rulings on Wednesday.
The lawsuit, a dispute over $2.5 billion in punitive damages, is the final legal case remaining from the March 1989 spill of 11 million gallons of crude oil in Alaska's Prince William Sound.
The 32,677 plaintiffs in the case have been waiting for their compensation since 1994, when a jury in Anchorage returned a $5 billion punitive-damages award against Exxon Mobil Corp. for its role in the spill. The company has been appealing the verdict since then. In 2006, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cut the award to $2.5 billion. Exxon appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in the case on Feb. 27.
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