Reps Jim Jordan and Darrell Issa are leading the investigation
By Elizabeth Elkind Fox News
The House Judiciary Committee has opened an investigation into whether a climate law group is improperly influencing federal judges on environment-related cases.
Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the panel’s subcommittee on Courts, sent four letters to varying judicial groups and lawyers asking for more information on communications with the Environmental Law Institute.
“The Committee on the Judiciary is investigating allegations of improper attempts by the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and its Climate Judiciary Project (CJP) to influence federal judges. Public reports have documented concerns around apparent efforts by ELI and CJP to influence judges who potentially may be presiding over lawsuits related to alleged climate change claims,” the letter to the Judicial Conference of the United States (JCUS) read.
“These efforts appear to have the underlying goal of predisposing federal judges in favor of plaintiffs alleging injuries from the manufacturing, marketing, use, or sale of fossil-fuel products.”
Jordan and Issa argued that existing JCUS policy acknowledged risks of allowing privately funded education programs to distribute material to courts, but that its policy was also “leaving the door open for groups like ELI and CJP to exert influence through program content and contact between judges and those who litigate before them.”
