Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen joined a 22-state coalition urging the U.S. House Judiciary Committee to broaden its ongoing investigation into improper influence on federal proceedings to include the Federal Judicial Center (FJC), which recently published a climate change manual for judges that the coalition says is biased.
In a letter sent Tuesday to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, the attorneys general expressed concerns over the FJC’s Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence. While previous editions were designed to assist judges with complex scientific cases, the coalition argues that the newest version “rigs case outcomes in favor of one side.”
The letter notes that the manual relies heavily on three climate activists who have previously provided expert testimony in active climate-related litigation. The coalition contends this creates a conflict of interest and undermines judicial impartiality.
“Not surprisingly given the strong biases of its authors, reviewers, and sources, the climate change chapter presents as settled the very methodologies that plaintiffs rely on to impose liability on fossil-fuel defendants,” the attorneys general wrote. “The chapter presents this science as authoritative without acknowledging contrary views or disclosing the many conflicts of the authors, reviewers, and sources.”
The House Judiciary Committee initially launched an investigation into the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), which receives federal funding to support the Climate Judiciary Project. In August 2025, Knudsen led a coalition urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to cancel ELI funding, arguing that the group promotes a radical environmental agenda while training judges on its interpretation of climate science. According to the coalition, the Climate Judiciary Project has hosted more than 50 events and trained over 2,000 judges.
“Like ELI’s Climate Judiciary Project that the Committee is investigating, the new chapter presents a highly biased, agenda-driven view favoring radical interests pursuing lawsuits against producers and users of traditional forms of fossil fuel energy,” the attorneys general stated.
The letter was led by Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers and joined by attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming, signaling a broad coalition of states calling for congressional scrutiny of the FJC’s materials and potential influence on federal court proceedings.
The coalition urges the Judiciary Committee to expand its investigation to ensure that judicial education remains impartial and that federal judges are not exposed to materials that could bias case outcomes.