# Maura Healey Democratic Governor of Massachusetts since January 2023 — one of the first openly lesbian governors in the country — after eight years as attorney general, where she was an early and aggressive litigant against the first Trump administration. As governor she has confronted a migrant-shelter capacity crisis and housing affordability. ## The Exxon Climate Deception Suit Healey's most consequential act as attorney general was suing [[ExxonMobil]] on **24 October 2019** for deceptive advertising and for misleading Massachusetts investors about the risks that fossil-fuel-driven climate change posed to Exxon's business. The suit was the culmination of an investigation she opened in 2016 into how the company allegedly misled the public for decades after its own scientists had briefed it on the science. Exxon's defense turned the case into a landmark in [[Corporate Free Speech]] litigation rather than a climate case. Having exhausted its other options — including a failed removal to federal court, remanded in March 2020 — the company invoked the Massachusetts **anti-SLAPP statute**, arguing that its public statements about climate were protected *petitioning* activity and that the attorney general had violated its [[First Amendment]] rights by suing. Exxon's counsel stated the tactical purpose openly: the anti-SLAPP route allowed dismissal "before burdensome discovery is imposed." On **24 May 2022** the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rejected the argument in *Commonwealth v. Exxon Mobil Corp.* (SJC-13211), holding that the anti-SLAPP statute does not apply to civil enforcement actions brought by the Attorney General. The underlying case remains active in Massachusetts Superior Court, with protective-order disputes still being litigated in early 2026 — by which point Healey had been governor for three years and the suit had been inherited by her successor. ## See Also - [[Corporate Free Speech]] — the doctrine Exxon deployed against her suit - [[SLAPP Lawsuits]] — the statute Exxon tried to invoke - [[ExxonMobil]] — the defendant - [[The Climate Denial Machine]] — the conduct at issue