{"id":480575,"date":"2026-10-19T11:57:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T18:57:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=480575"},"modified":"2026-10-19T11:57:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T18:57:41","slug":"courts-need-to-remove-the-climate-activist-thumb-from-the-scales-of-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=480575","title":{"rendered":"Courts need to remove the climate activist thumb from the scales of justice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A
Hand with black glove pushing on scale of justice in dark room with black background. Concept of injustice, espionage, partiality, law.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY DAVID C. TRYON:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Federal Judicial Center\u2019s \u201cReference Manual on Scientific Evidence\u201d<\/a> is supposed to help federal judges understand scientific evidence and methodologies. Judges increasingly confront complex scientific questions and need reliable tools to evaluate expert testimony. The reference manual is one such tool \u2014 or at least most of it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the request of 27 states\u2019 attorneys general, the Federal Judicial Center recently removed the manual\u2019s chapter on climate science because it did more to influence judicial outcomes than to help federal judges evaluate scientific evidence. And the reference guide\u2019s chapter called \u201cHow Science Works<\/a>\u201d is guilty of a similar offense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judicial reference manuals should teach judges how to evaluate scientific evidence\u2014not tell them which scientific conclusions to draw. Unfortunately, \u201cHow Science Works\u201d does a lot more telling than teaching, putting a green-agenda thumb on the scales of justice. So, as The Buckeye Institute and other concerned public policy organizations expressed in a letter<\/a> to the Federal Judicial Center, the dubious chapter has to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a very anti-scientific turn, and without catching the irony, \u201cHow Science Works\u201d misleadingly suggests that broad consensus \u2014 not reason, test results, or repeatability \u2014 constitutes \u201cthe highest level of certainty science has to offer.\u201d  It then asserts that the hypothesis of man-made climate change has reached such \u201cscientific consensus,\u201d despite that hypothesis\u2019s many contested, untested, and controversial claims. The chapter goes on to contravene important legal authorities and doctrines that govern expert testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Federal Rule of Evidence 702<\/a>, for example, requires courts to determine whether expert testimony rests on sufficient facts or data, results from reliable principles and methods, and reflects a reliable application of those principles and methods to the facts of the case. The rule emphasizes that applying an expert\u2019s methodology to the facts is critical to whether scientific evidence gets admitted in court. Similarly, in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals<\/em><\/a>, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court explained that science\u2019s method of generating hypotheses and testing them to determine whether they can be falsified is what distinguishes science from other forms of inquiry. Daubert<\/em> ruled that when it comes to scientific evidence, the quality of an expert\u2019s methodology should trump consensus or \u201cwidespread acceptance.\u201d The court may be surprised \u2014 and not amused \u2014 to learn that the federal Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence<\/em> dismissively calls the scientific method\u2019s authoritative role a \u201cmyth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elevating a so-called consensus over rigorous methodology when weighing scientific evidence in the courtroom risks serious, real-world consequences<\/a> for litigants, especially in the energy sector. What federal judges read about scientific evidence in judicial reference guides will influence how they evaluate scientific evidence at trial, and those evaluations may mean billions of dollars in unwarranted liability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As climate-related litigation marches across America and energy companies defend themselves and their business decisions against the charge of inflicting climate change, judges and juries should not be encouraged to rely on agenda-driven \u201cconsensus\u201d to render their verdicts. Courts may be asked, for example, whether a particular climate model establishes causation; whether an attribution methodology supports a particular claim for damages; or whether an expert\u2019s assumptions justify imposing liability on an energy company. Those questions should not be answered with \u201cfour-out-of-five scientists agree,\u201d as if judges were shopping for a new toothpaste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the Federal Judicial Center should remove the \u201cHow Science Works\u201d chapter from its reference manual, or else rewrite it to conform with Daubert<\/em> and the center\u2019s own historical approach to judicial guides. When the first edition<\/a> of the manual was published, the center explained that it was providing the bench with primers on scientific methods and identifying issues on which experts might disagree. The current edition strays far from that circumspect position, all but telling judges what<\/em> to think rather than how<\/em> to think about a contested scientific conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Suncor Energy Inc. v. Boulder County<\/em><\/a>, a case in which climate activists hope to impose a very expensive net-zero carbon agenda nationwide. The parties and the country should hope that the Suncor<\/em> decision adheres to science derived by the scientific method and eschews today\u2019s \u201cwidely held beliefs\u201d that may or may not be so widely held tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American energy depends on sound, objective science to fuel the future. And American litigants deserve an objective judiciary not primed with politically predetermined conclusions presented as scientific fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article originally appeared at RealClear Energy<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Federal Judicial Center\u2019s \u201cReference Manual on Scientific Evidence\u201d is supposed to help federal judges understand scientific evidence and methodologies. Judges increasingly confront complex scientific questions and need reliable tools to evaluate expert testimony. The reference manual is one such tool \u2014 or at least most of it is.<\/p>\n

In a very anti-scientific turn, and without catching the irony, \u201cHow Science Works\u201d misleadingly suggests that broad consensus \u2014 not reason, test results, or repeatability \u2014 constitutes \u201cthe highest level of certainty science has to offer.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":480576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"Explore how climate activist influence in judicial manuals risks altering justice. Learn why objective scientific evaluation is crucial.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Removing Climate Bias from Justice: A Call for Scientific Integrity","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691846553,691845178,691846552,691842348,691841311,691846554],"class_list":["post-480575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anti-scientific-turn","tag-how-science-works-2","tag-reference-manual-on-scientific-evidence-2","tag-scientific-consensus-2","tag-federal-judicial-center-fjc","tag-scientific-evidence-in-judicial-reference-guides","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-211d","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":445369,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=445369","url_meta":{"origin":480575,"position":0},"title":"Time to End the Injustice of \u2018Environmental Justice\u2019","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/20\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"President Trump\u2019s recently proposed budget continues to slash spending for the federal government\u2019s environmental justice programs. 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