Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is pressing ahead in his quest for documents related to the work of a former University of Virginia climate scientist, dispatching a top deputy this morning to the state's highest court to plead for access.

Cuccinelli's office is investigating former UVA professor Michael Mann for "possible violations" of the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act related to five research grants Mann won while at UVA. But his 2010 request for emails and other documents related to Mann's work through a "civil investigative demand" -- similar to a subpoena -- was blocked by an Albemarle County judge.

In that case, Albemarle Circuit Judge Paul Peatross ruled that Cuccinelli failed to show why he suspects Mann may have violated the fraud law. The case has drawn outrage from some academics, who have accused the Republican attorney general of an assault on academic freedom and of going to excessive lengths to challenge the science of climate change.

After Peatross' ruling, Cuccinelli issued a narrower demand for documents, which UVA has also challenged. In court this morning, Deputy Attorney General Wesley Russell argued that the documents were necessary for determining whether fraud occurred, while UVA attorney Chuck Rosenberg said the attorney general's office still had not justified the inquiry (Michael Sluss, Roanoke Times, Jan. 13). -- AS