US court agency pulls climate change from science advisory document

In a significant update, the Federal Judicial Center has altered its guidance document aimed at helping judges navigate complex scientific issues. This revision follows a formal complaint from several Republican state attorneys general regarding the document's section on climate change. The original content, which acknowledged human influence on climate change as a factual basis, faced backlash. In response to the criticism, the agency has entirely removed the chapter addressing climate change from its advisory materials. Established by law, the Federal Judicial Center serves as a research and education agency for the judicial branch of the United States, providing resources to assist judges who may be unfamiliar with scientific matters relevant to their cases. The “Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence,” currently in its fourth edition, was developed in collaboration with the National Academies of Sciences. This extensive guide covers various scientific processes and issues that frequently arise in legal contexts, including statistical methods, DNA identification, and environmental exposures. The fourth edition, released last December, included insights on climate change contributed by experts from Columbia University. However, a coalition of attorneys general from Republican-led states expressed their objections, particularly to the portrayal of human-driven climate change. Their letter to the Federal Judicial Center's leadership criticized the document for what they perceived as a lack of impartiality, arguing that it favored one viewpoint on contentious scientific debates. They noted that the document’s stance places the judiciary in alignment with a specific perspective on climate science amid ongoing litigation related to these issues.