Some day the light speed delay might become an issue in historical investigations, but not quite yet :) Even then in the statement “if you claim that X caused Y, the minimum you need to know is that X came before Y, not afterwards” the term “before” implies that one event is in the causal future of the other.
Or that the interval between X and Y is spacelike, and neither is in the other’s forward light cone… :)
Some day the light speed delay might become an issue in historical investigations, but not quite yet :) Even then in the statement “if you claim that X caused Y, the minimum you need to know is that X came before Y, not afterwards” the term “before” implies that one event is in the causal future of the other.