The University of Virginia today filed a petition in a Virginia state court, asking that civil investigative demands it received regarding possible fraud by a leading climate scientist be set aside. The university argued several grounds while asserting that requiring its compliance would be an assault on academic freedom and also violates the scientist’s freedom of speech.
About a month ago the Virginia attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, demanded all sorts of records about the scientist’s work while he was at UVA, in case he attempted to defraud taxpayers while seeking research grants. The scientist in question, Michael Mann, was involved with the Climategate emails.
It will be interesting to see how this turns out — not only because of the actual issues involved with the case, but also because it is another example of Cuccinelli’s aggressive legal moves during his first months in office.
The full filing by UVA is below.
