Climate Science Has No Place in Scientific Reference Manual for Judges, Attorneys General Say

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By Emily Gardner, Eos/AGU. 

Excerpt: A chapter on climate science has been removed from a manual designed to be an independent, neutral source of scientific information for judges. Judges aren’t always scientific experts, but they are responsible for determining whether scientific evidence is admissible and for making rulings in scientific cases. That’s why the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, jointly produced by the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), was introduced more than 30 years ago: to inform judges about fundamental truths of various areas of science. ...In December 2025, the manual was updated for the first time in 15 years to include new chapters on computer science, artificial intelligence, and climate science. The chapter on climate science met with backlash almost immediately. In late January, 27 Republican state attorneys general wrote a letter to the FJC asking that the 90-page chapter on climate science be removed, calling it “inappropriate” and “advocacy-based.” FJC director Robin Rosenberg responded 6 February, stating that the climate science chapter had been removed. Scientists and legal experts have spoken out against this decision, arguing that its removal “deprives judges of a resource needed to do their jobs.”... 

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