A Prince William County judge has ordered the University of Virginia to turn over documents related to the climate change research of former professor Michael Mann to a conservative group even though those documents are still being denied to Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
The American Tradition Institute and Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William, filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the documents in January. The court order requires the university to produce documents that are not exempt from public disclosure by Aug. 22
A separate order allows the group to review documents the university deems exempt from the public disclosure law starting no later than Sept. 21.
“By the end of this year, ATI and UVA will obtain judicial review of the university’s obligation to fulfill the public’s right to know how taxpayer-funded employees use the taxpayer’s resources,” said Chris Horner, director of litigation at ATI’s Environmental Law Center.
The development comes as Cuccinelli is using the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act to investigate whether Mann, now at Penn State University, defrauded taxpayers in seeking a state grant.
Mann is associated with the infamous “hockey stick” graph that documents a rapid rise in the earth’s temperature during the 20th century. He was cleared of any academic wrongdoing in the wake of the so-called “Climategate” incident in 2009.
