The Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal by Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli II to overturn a state judge's ruling that he could not demand documents tied to climatologist Michael Mann.
Cuccinelli is alleging that Mann, a former University of Virginia professor, defrauded taxpayers by providing false information about climate change for research grant applications. Critics, including the university, have called Cuccinelli's claims an attack on academic freedom, and Mann has denied the fraud charges.
Cuccinelli is seeking to gain access to academic documents, computer programs, thousands of e-mails and other data from Mann. A state judge had ruled last August that Cuccinelli did not have the authority to demand documents related to federal grants and that he also did not provide evidence of fraud in his subpoena.
Climate skeptic Cuccinelli has claimed that his investigation is not about climate change research but about finances. If the documents are released, Cuccinelli will have to comb them to prove a chargeable offense. Cuccinelli has acknowledged that the e-mails may not provide much proof of financial mismanagement.
"Frankly, I would say the odds are there is nothing like that," he said. "But we don't know that" (John Collins Rudolf, New York Times, March 12). -- AP
