Attorneys general want the House to expand the climate policy influencing investigation
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INTERMEDIATE: About half of state lawmakers will want the House Judiciary Committee to expand its investigation into climate policy-related influence on state judges to include a guide that gold-standard judges use to evaluate subjects they are not familiar with.
The development comes after a Fox News Digital report highlighted criticism of the Federal Judicial Center’s (FJC) latest 1,600-page “Science Evidence Handbook.” Critics have said the mainstream political agenda is now riddled with climate change-related bias, citing extensive footnotes drawn from left-leaning sources and climate alarmists.
The Federal Judicial Center itself is a research and education center for the federal judiciary, and its governing board is chaired by Chief Justice John Roberts.
Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers is leading the effort, writing to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, urging them to expand their undue influence investigation to include what they call “a misguided one-sided effort.”
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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, speaks during a hearing at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC, on September 3, 2025. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The latest edition was published on December 31 and includes a foreword by Justice Elena Kagan before a review of the article written by environmental legal expert Jessica Wentz, climate scientist Michael Mann, and dozens of others involved in climate change research and advocacy.
“That same unfair concern applies to the Federal Judicial Center and the ‘Scientific Evidence Reference Manual,'” the attorneys general wrote in part.
They noted that Kagan’s foreword said previous editions of the manual helped “bring about better decisions and judicial fairness,” but said his words would not have the same resonance in the latest edition.
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People walk past the US Supreme Court building in Washington, DC, Jan. 9, 2026. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)
“Like [the] The Climate Justice Project Investigative Committee, the new chapter reveals a biased opinion, driven by an agenda in favor of strong interests to sue the producers and users of traditional forms of fossil energy, “said the attorneys general, citing the inclusion of the findings of Jessica Wentz, a climate change lawyer, among other names at Columbia University.
They cited a court filing filed by Wentz opposing the Willow drilling plan in Alaska, in which he was quoted as saying “the world needs to run out of fossil fuels as quickly as possible to avoid potentially catastrophic levels of global warming and climate change.”
Prosecutors also pointed to the inclusion of work from an attorney who represented the city of Honolulu in cases against traditional energy companies.
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“Not surprisingly, given the strong biases of its authors, reviewers, and sources, the chapter on climate change reveals the very methods that plaintiffs rely on to bind fossil fuel defendants,” the letter reads.
“The chapter presents this science as authoritative without acknowledging opposing views or disclosing the many conflicts of authors, reviewers, and sources. Ethicists have noted that these issues raise serious ethical concerns.”
Commenting on Fox News Digital, Hilgers said the FJC’s new science manual should present complex evidence in an unbiased manner, but instead “seems to embed the views of climate activists and diversity, equity, and inclusion in what is presented as neutral guidance.”
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“When the same lawyers and experts who litigate climate cases are helping to write and review a chapter that will be used by federal judges outside of courtrooms, it raises obvious and serious concerns about the impartiality of the justice system,” Hilgers said.
“Nebraskas, and all Americans, deserve impartial and fair courts.”
The letter was also signed by Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and their state prosecutors in Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, South Dakota, Dakota, Missouri, Kansas, Louisiana, South Dakota, Missouri Carolina, Texas and Wyoming.
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“We’ve seen senseless legal battles grow across the country — politically motivated groups, using our courts and liberal judges to push their climate agenda. That’s bad enough,” McCuskey told Fox News Digital, saying it’s time to curb the impact of ‘junk science.’
“We have to protect our justice system and fairness,” he said.
McCuskey also dismissed the FJC itself, co-signed by Marshall, Uthmeier, Cox and others.
He told the agency’s director — Obama-appointed judge Robin Rosenberg of Florida — that the entirety of the manual must remain faithful.
“At least until now, [FJC] he has been careful to emphasize that the Manual merely “explains the basic principles of the major scientific disciplines… Instead, the Fourth Edition places law enforcement firmly on one side of one of the most pressing questions in current litigation: climate science and ‘attribution’.”
“Such work undermines the impartiality of judges and puts a thumb on one side of the scale,” McCuskey said.
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The CEO of the American Energy Institute, Jason Isaac, added that the FJC improperly used taxpayers’ money to publish a reference book that “embedded the anti-climate views of the plaintiff in the jury consultation.”
“That’s not education, it’s shaping outcomes, and it directly undermines the impartiality of the court,” Isaac said.
OH Skinner of the Alliance for Consumers called the development a “woke lawfare playbook” and said climate change activists see the court as their best chance to deliver on their views.
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When reached for comment on the issue of his pending records, Wentz replied, “no comment.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Jordan and Grassley for comment, as well as FJC.
