22 GOP AGs Urge House to Probe Climate Bias in Federal Judicial Science Manual

Twenty‑two Republican state attorneys general, led by Nebraska’s Mike Hilgers, are sending a letter asking House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan and subcommittee Chair Darrell Issa to expand their improper‑influence investigation into climate policy and the courts to include the Federal Judicial Center’s newly updated 'Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence.' The 1,600‑page manual, published Dec. 31 and overseen by a board chaired by Chief Justice John Roberts, includes a foreword by Justice Elena Kagan and a new climate‑science chapter that the AGs say relies heavily on work by advocates such as Columbia environmental lawyer Jessica Wentz and climatologist Michael Mann, and presents plaintiffs’ methodologies as 'settled' without acknowledging contrary views or conflicts of interest. The AGs argue this amounts to an 'inappropriate attempt to rig case outcomes' in climate litigation against fossil‑fuel producers by giving federal judges a one‑sided primer on climate attribution and damages. Their move would fold the Federal Judicial Center into an existing House probe of the Climate Judiciary Project and other training efforts conservatives portray as steering judges toward pro‑climate‑plaintiff positions. If Jordan and Grassley act on the request, it could open a new front in the fight over how the federal judiciary is educated on complex science and whether those materials themselves have become a battleground in climate and energy policy wars.