SW Kansas News

Amid increasing scrutiny over the use of taxpayer funds, 23 Republican state attorneys general have urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to halt federal grants to the Environmental Law Institute (ELI). The group runs the Climate Judiciary Project (CJP), which has been criticized for influencing judicial decisions on climate change policy. The letter addressed to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin calls on the Trump Administration to stop funding ELI due to concerns about CJP's involvement in climate lawfare.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, who led this initiative, told Fox News that the project uses what he described as "woke climate propaganda" under the guise of neutral education to influence judges and promote a specific agenda through the court system. The criticism of CJP's role in training judges has been growing among policymakers and industry leaders. In June, a House Oversight subcommittee examined NGO abuses, with CJP cited as an example of a taxpayer-funded organization pursuing a radical climate agenda.

Scott Walker, president of the Capital Research Center, expressed concern over CJP's judicial education efforts: "...the controversial Climate Judiciary Project, which seeks to ‘educate’—from a left-wing perspective—federal and state judges about climate change and related litigation designed to extract billions of dollars from oil and gas companies for alleged climate harms."

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) criticizes the Climate Judiciary Project | Wikipedia

The project has briefed more than 2,000 judges nationwide on courtroom applications of climate science favorable to plaintiffs. This program has also drawn attention from Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who demanded information from ELI about CJP’s connections with academics supporting plaintiffs in climate cases. During a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing this year, Sen. Cruz described CJP’s training programs as "judicial capture."

Energy industry groups have joined in criticizing the Climate Judiciary Project. Dan Turner, Executive Director of Power The Future, sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi [sic] expressing concerns about CJP’s collaboration with the Federal Judicial Center. According to Fox News: "Power The Future is concerned that the [Federal Judicial Center] is actively assisting in a campaign which boasts of having ‘educated’ approximately two thousand judges..."

Despite denials from ELI representatives regarding bias in their judicial trainings, lawmakers remain skeptical. Previous investigations into ELI have focused on its funding sources and personnel ties with lawyers and academics involved in climate lawfare. CJP receives funding from several progressive nonprofits that also support Sher Edling LLP, a law firm representing many plaintiffs in climate lawsuits.

In 2024 alone, ELI received over $937,000 from various federal agencies including the EPA and National Science Foundation. These funds support programs linked to what critics describe as an inappropriate influence on judicial impartiality concerning energy policies.

Information from this article can be found here.