Whitehouse Urges Judicial Conference to Reject Climate Denial Influence Effort Aimed at Federal Judges

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and Ranking Member of the Judiciary Courts Subcommittee, sent a letter last week to the Judicial Conference warning of a dangerous two-edged climate denial effort aimed at influencing federal judges. In the new letter, Whitehouse urges the judiciary to reinstate a climate science section in the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, and to update its rules to put real guardrails around judges' attendance at fossil-fuel-funded "educational" junkets.

"The attack on the science chapter and the junkets propagating 'alternative' science share the same goal: convincing judges of the false narrative that billionaire-funded climate denial is simply a competing view that merits equal time to legitimate, evidence-backed climate science. It's not; it's false, and I am not aware of any court decision anywhere that says otherwise," wrote Whitehouse.

"The FJC's climate science chapter provided federal judges an evidence-based guide for evaluating climate-change-related science and data. In response, the fossil fuel industry and its allies pressured the FJC into rescinding the chapter and have tried to discredit and intimidate the FJC and anyone else who might provide evidence-based guidance to federal judges. The fossil fuel industry prefers that judges rely on industry-funded front groups to learn its version of climate 'science,'" continued Whitehouse.

Whitehouse spotlights the fossil-fuel industry's effort to fund seminars intended to influence judges to take seriously climate-denial talking points and discredit climate science. The Senator noted the Antonin Scalia Law School's "Law & Economics Center" at George Mason University as a worst offender. George Mason University, its law school, and its Law & Economics Center have received millions in funding from the fossil-fuel industry, and have solicited funding from fossil-fuel titans like the Koch political network with the stated intention of giving judges "a healthy skepticism of the invocations of 'science'" in cases before those judges. Whitehouse points out that the Center appears to have violated Judicial Conference rules by failing to disclose this fossil fuel funding. Whitehouse in 2022 warned Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and the Administrative Office of the Courts about the industry influence efforts funneled through advocacy organizations housed at George Mason University.

"The Judicial Conference should update its rules to protect against the undue influence of industry-funded junkets, wrote Whitehouse. "As part of that effort, the judiciary should require the Law & Economics Center to follow existing rules and disclose earmarked funding. If judges continue to attend junkets regardless, mere disclosure and advisory opinions may no longer be enough."

Whitehouse concluded, "I encourage the Judicial Conference, FJC, and the rest of the judiciary to resist attempts to enlist them in polluters' climate denial scheme. To do otherwise jeopardizes the judiciary's independence and our planet's future."

The full letter is available here.

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