Lawmakers looking for ways to ensure that oil companies pay for devastating spills have a new target: a 2008 Supreme Court decision limiting punitive damages in maritime law.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), joined by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), introduced a bill this month that would eliminate the 1:1 ratio of punitive damages to compensatory damages imposed in Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker.