Bucks County commissioners may have thought they were pulling a fast one in filing a climate lawsuit against energy producers without public input last year, but a Pennsylvania judge just ripped down the curtain on their climate lawsuit stunt.

In oral arguments yesterday, Bucks County Court of Common Pleas Judge Stephen Corr called out the county’s backroom tactics, blasting their legal end-run against oil and gas companies as “sneaky” and—as EID Climate raised when the suit was initially filed—lacking transparency.

Lack of public oversight is just the tip of the iceberg of issues facing the climate litigation campaign, a movement already in free fall after facing a spate of dismissals in recent months. Lawsuits brought by Baltimore, New York City, Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, MD and New Jersey failed to advance past the motion to dismiss phase—casting doubt on the future of Bucks County’s case.

Read more on EID Climate here.