Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan is distancing herself from a climate science reference for judges that is making waves in an upcoming case.
Conservative groups have called for a probe of whether Kagan — a member of the high court’s liberal wing — violated ethics rules by not stepping back from a legal fight by local governments trying to get the oil industry to pay up for the impacts of climate change. The high-stakes legal battle has the potential to cost energy producers billions of dollars.
During a congressional hearing Tuesday on the Supreme Court’s budget, Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) asked Kagan about the controversy.
It stems from the foreword the Kagan wrote to a judicial reference manual that contained a chapter on climate science. That chapter has since been withdrawn.
