Attorney General Knudsen urges House Judiciary Committee to expand investigation into improper judicial influence 

HELENA – Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen joined a 22-state coalition urging the U.S. House Judiciary Committee to expand its ongoing investigation into the improper influence of federal proceedings to include The Federal Judicial Center, which recently published a biased climate change manual for judges across the country.

In a letter sent Tuesday to the House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, the attorneys general outlined their concerns regarding the Federal Judicial Center’s Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence. While earlier versions of the manual were intended to assist judges on complex scientific cases, the coalition argue that the newest version attempts to “rig case outcomes in favor of one side.”

Further, the manual relies on three climate activists who have recently been involved in climate change advocacy and litigation, including providing expert testimony in active lawsuits. The attorneys general argue that such bias violates the courts’ fundamental commitment to remain impartial. The House Judiciary Committee launched an investigation the original investigation into the Environmental Law Institute (ELI).

“Not surprisingly given the strong biases of its authors, reviewers, and sources, the climate change chapter presents as settled the very methodologies that plaintiffs rely on to impose liability on fossil-fuel defendants,” the attorneys general state. “The chapter presents this science as authoritative without acknowledging contrary views or disclosing the many conflicts of the authors, reviewers, and sources.”

In August 2025, Attorney General Knudsen led a coalition of states urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to cancel funding for the ELI. The coalition argued that the ELI uses tax dollars to support the Climate Judiciary Project, which also promotes a radical environmental agenda aimed to influence judges. Although the Climate Judiciary Project claims they are providing “objective and trusted” education, the group has hosted more than 50 events and trained more than 2,000 judges on their own version of climate science.

“Like ELI’s Climate Judiciary Project that the Committee is investigating, the new chapter presents a highly biased, agenda-driven view favoring radical interests pursuing lawsuits against producers and users of traditional forms of fossil fuel energy,” the attorneys general state.

Attorneys General Hilgers from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming also joined the letter led by Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers.

Click here to read the letter.