{"id":425456,"date":"2026-02-10T10:12:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T09:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=425456"},"modified":"2026-02-10T10:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T09:36:11","slug":"process-wins-one-federal-judicial-center-deletes-climate-chapter-from-judicial-manual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=425456","title":{"rendered":"Process Wins One: Federal Judicial Center Deletes Climate Chapter from Judicial Manual"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Federal Judicial Center (FJC), the research and education arm of the U.S. federal judiciary, has removed a chapter on climate science from the fourth edition of its Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This manual serves as a key resource for federal judges (and often state judges) when evaluating scientific evidence in litigation, including under standards like Daubert for admissibility of expert testimony. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fourth edition was released in December 2025, marking the first time it included a dedicated section on climate science, authored by Jessica Wentz and Radley Horton (affiliated with Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and related institutions). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chapter aimed to help judges assess expert testimony and evidence related to climate science, including attribution (linking emissions to specific impacts).<\/p>\n\n\n

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From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Charles Rotter<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every so often, an institution pauses, looks at what it has just done, and quietly backs away from the edge. That appears to be what has happened at the Federal Judicial Center (FJC), and it is worth marking the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As confirmed in a February 6, 2026, letter from FJC Director Judge Robin L. Rosenberg to West Virginia Attorney General John B. McCuskey, the Federal Judicial Center has removed the climate science chapter from the\u00a0Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, Fourth Edition<\/a><\/em>. That single administrative act- \u201chas omitted the climate science chapter\u201d- represents a rare and welcome course correction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fourth Edition of the Reference Manual is no ordinary publication. Courts have cited earlier editions more than a thousand times. Judges rely on it not to tell them what to think, but to help them understand how to evaluate expert claims without becoming surrogate scientists. Its authority flows precisely from its reputation for restraint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The now-removed climate chapter threatened that reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem was never that climate science exists or that climate changes. The problem was that the chapter treated deeply disputed questions\u2014especially climate attribution\u2014as if they were settled background facts. In doing so, it blurred the line between education and advocacy, effectively supplying judges with a pre-framed lens through which ongoing and future climate litigation could be viewed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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West Virginia led the charge calling for the Federal Judicial Center to immediately withdraw an inappropriate new addition to the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence that deals with \u201cclimate science.\u201d We have just received notice that, because of our efforts, the chapter is\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/kx2YxNyZUU<\/a><\/p>— JB McCuskey (@mccuskeyforwv) February 7, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>