A coalition of more than a dozen Republican attorneys general is demanding that a taxpayer-funded scientific organization scrub a politically biased climate change chapter from its official manual, according to a letter obtained by The Daily Wire. 
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen sent a <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MTAG/2026/02/19/file_attachments/3559530/2026-02-19%20AGs%27%20Ltr%20to%20NAS%20FINAL.pdf">letter</a> to the National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt on Thursday demanding that she “take action” to remove a section on “climate science” from the “Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence: Fourth Edition.” Knudsen notes that the chapter was authored by two leftist activists who have advocated ending the use of fossil fuels. 
“This partisanship is especially troubling since taxpayer money provided by the federal government is the largest source—more than $200 million—of the National Academies’ budget,” the attorneys general wrote. “Taxpayer money should not be used for political causes, particularly by an entity that Congress created to provide independent and objective scientific reports.”
The letter was also sent to the incoming president of the National Academy of Sciences, Neil Shubin.
McNutt <a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/index.php/governing-board">chairs</a> the governing board of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which co-produced the <a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/publications/26919">manual</a> with the Federal Judicial Center as a handbook for federal judges. Earlier this month, the judicial center <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/reference-manual-on-scientific-evidence-climate-science-elena-kagan-federal-judges-f8e8604a?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqenuW1BIeQcsljVCaPocCtWHummF76Pu_cnQ0KlguiQAeIUNm7GcmAXGmI1sSg%3D&amp;gaa_ts=6997208c&amp;gaa_sig=wVTzH3siKR3DaS1OsCzap4UGuaUWOHjVYeBgLh2Y2IVt5AfO9iotN2ZjJgaB3QunvcBEg3kfNQRJ2dCjybLV0Q%3D%3D">removed</a> the climate chapter from its version of the book after more than two dozen Republican attorneys general warned it could improperly influence their decisions.  
“Like the Federal Judicial Center, the National Academies should immediately remove the climate science chapter from all available versions of the Fourth Edition to stop any continued claims of ‘political pamphleteering,&#8217;” they wrote. 
Knudsen told The Daily Wire he expected answers on the climate chapter.
&#8220;It is unacceptable that the National Academies continue to allow the climate science chapter to remain in circulation, especially when taxpayer dollars are used to support their work,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I expect a clear explanation for why it has not been withdrawn and how they plan to prevent biased ideologies in future editions.&#8221;
The chapter in question was co-authored in part by Jessica Wentz, a fellow at Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. In an <a href="https://climate.law.columbia.edu/sites/climate.law.columbia.edu/files/content/Willow%20amicus%20brief%20-%20FILED.pdf">amicus brief</a> opposing the development of an oil drilling project in Alaska, Wentz wrote that “the world needs to phase out fossil fuels as rapidly as possible in order to avert potentially catastrophic levels of global warming and climate change.”
The other co-author of the chapter is Radley Horton, a professor at Columbia University’s Climate School. Horton, who has <a href="https://www.eli.org/vibrant-environment-blog/educating-judges-climate-litigation-today-and-tomorrow">previously</a> trained judges on climate litigation, has <a href="https://therealnews.com/rhorton1127climate">said</a> that “it’s absolutely critical that there be a global effort to do everything we can to dramatically draw down emissions.”
Those acknowledged in the chapter included Michael Burger, who is representing Honolulu in litigation against energy companies, and Michael Gerrard, who has advocated for “decarbonization” through climate-related lawsuits. 
In 2020, Gerrard <a href="https://www.amacad.org/sites/default/files/publication/downloads/Fa20_Daedalus_06_Gerrard.pdf">wrote</a> that “litigation” was needed to advance climate action. 
“Until and unless elections bring to power a president, a Congress, and local officials who will take the necessary measures, litigation is needed to inhibit those who will try to move backwards, spur on those with good intentions, help implement the policies set by wise Congresses past, and continue the quest for redress for victims,” he wrote. 
Both Gerrard and Burger are part of Columbia’s climate change law center. 
The Republican attorneys general argued that the views of the authors and reviewers skewed the chapter in one direction. 
“Not surprisingly given the strong biases of its authors, reviewers, and sources, the climate science chapter presents as settled the very methodologies that plaintiffs rely on to impose liability on fossil-fuel defendants. The chapter presents this science as authoritative without acknowledging contrary views or disclosing the many conflicts of the authors, reviewers, and sources. Ethics experts have noted that these issues raise serious ethics concerns,” they wrote.  
The National Academy of Sciences was <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/recipient/bf13c3e1-3402-03ba-44d3-2349f4a792b0-P/latest">allocated</a> $133 million in federal funding for fiscal year 2025 and has been awarded $13.9 million so far this fiscal year. It frequently receives grants from the Department of Transportation, the Pentagon, and the National Science Foundation.
Other states that signed onto the letter included Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The effort was also backed by American Energy CEO Jason Isaac and Will Hild of Consumers’ Research. 
“Judicial education must explain scientific method, not normalize litigation strategies or launder contested theories as settled fact,” Isaac told The Daily Wire. “When taxpayer-funded institutions elevate one side of active lawsuits without disclosing conflicts, that undermines confidence in the courts and the rule of law.”
Hild said the academy should “pull this biased climate chapter and stop using taxpayer resources to push a radical political agenda.”

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