Source: Fox News
Summary
The Government Accountability & Oversight (GAO) group has filed Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain financial records related to climate presentations for judges. The requests aim to reveal how outside advocacy groups, such as the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), may have influenced the presentations. The ELI’s Climate Judiciary Project has been criticized for its ties to plaintiffs involved in climate litigation, raising concerns about the impartiality of judges who attend the seminars. The GAO is seeking records from the Treasury Department and the Federal Judicial Center Foundation to understand the financial mechanics behind the seminars.
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As expected, the matter has reached another stage.
The Government Accountability & Oversight group is pursuing a new possible paper trail to find out who is funding climate presentations for judges. The group has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for financial information that could reveal how outside advocacy groups influenced the presentations. The requests target records spanning multiple years, including the potential Treasury-held data dating back to 2015. The GAO is seeking to understand the “mechanics” behind the funding. The Federal Judicial Center has previously stated that it stopped working with ELI in 2020, but the GAO is still seeking records to clarify how outside money was handled by a public institution.
The sequence of events reveals a familiar pattern: a government watchdog group seeks transparency, and the entities involved respond with a mix of cooperation and resistance.
