For now, Virginians can keep their science, and their nipples. Attorney General Ken Cuchinelli, the Tea Party reformer famous for his initiative to remove the bare nipple from the Virginia State Seal, has lost another one.
Thomas Jefferson would, for this brief moment, be proud.
The Virginia Supreme Court today sided with the University of Virginia in its fight against the state attorney general’s investigation of former U.Va. climate scientist Michael Mann.
The court upheld the Albemarle Circuit Court ruling setting aside Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s civil investigative demands for documents related to grants Mann receive to study global warming.
Cuccinell sought the information under the state’s Fraud Against Taxpayers Act.
In a victory for university scholars, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled today that Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli does not have the authority to demand the release of email and other documents related to the work of former University of Virginia climate scientist Michael Mann. Cuccinelli’s global warming denial machine fishing expedition had been criticized even by climate ‘skeptics’ who are no friends of Prof. Mann. It raised the chilling question of whether the university could protect researchers’ ability to privately and freely correspond with one another.
The Court’s 26-page ruling is here (PDF).
For Background, start here.
Thanks, Martin. It means the Rebuplican candidates are dinosaurs in their own backward party if 47% of Rebuplicans think its warming, but the candidates think its a hoax…. I am glad there are those pointing out the obvious. Global warming and its extreme effects have been here for some time. Don’t get too distracted by the deniers to notice what you see. Weather patterns are shifting north and intensifying. Take a look at peak oil, too.