Climate scientist sought to use lawfare to ‘ruin National Review.’ He lost. Has finally been ordered to pay for some of the damage that he did. https://t.co/p183y7wDOv
— Byron York (@ByronYork) January 10, 2025
For more than eight years, the climate scientist Michael Mann harassed National Review through litigation over a blog post — until, eventually, the First Amendment brought an end to his attack. This week, a court in our nation’s capital ordered Mann to pay us $530,820.21 worth of attorney’s fees and costs, and to do so within 30 days. It is time for him to get out his checkbook, and sign on the dotted line.
The details of Mann’s conduct here remain shocking — especially in a nation such as the United States, which was built atop the foundations of free expression. All those years, all those words, all of that litigation, over . . . a couple of blog posts that criticized Mann for an argument that he had offered up during a quotidian political dispute. Science — to which Mann is supposed to be devoted — inevitably involves disagreement. And yet, Mann proved incapable of handling dissent. Instead of engaging in debate, he sued us — for defamation and for the infliction of emotional distress. This, suffice it to say, is not how debate in America should work.
The legal system hasn’t covered itself in glory, either. Our own justice was repeatedly delayed, and, when it arrived, it was via the back door rather than as part of a ringing endorsement of the right to free speech. And, disgracefully, both of our co-litigants, Mark Steyn and Rand Simberg, have been ordered to pay damages. It is often said that, in extended legal proceedings such as these, the process can serve as the punishment. So it has been. Or, at least, so it had been, until now. Hitherto, Michael Mann has engaged in his censorship campaign with impunity. The award of fees has finally exacted a price.
The promise of American law is that there will be material consequences for bad behavior, and, after twelve years, there finally have been. Mann’s behavior throughout has been appalling. Now, he must pay up.
