Energy group urges Trump to probe climate lawfare campaign

FIRST ON FOX: A prominent pro-energy group is calling on the Trump administration to investigate what it suspects is a coordinated “national lawfare campaign” by left-wing climate activists aimed at influencing thousands of judges on how to approach climate litigation.

In a letter sent this week to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Power the Future Founder and Executive Director Dan Turner warned that the Federal Judicial Center, in partnership with the Environmental Law Institute’s Climate Judiciary Project, is engaged in “behind-closed-doors advocacy” for climate lawfare.

“Specifically, Power The Future is concerned that the FJC is actively assisting in a campaign which boasts of having ‘educated’ approximately two thousand judges, including federal judges, on how to approach climate” litigation,” the letter explains. “‘Climate’ litigation actually seeks in part to impose federal energy (rationing) policy through the courts, even though policy ‘must be addressed by the two other branches of government.’ The FJC enlisted in this campaign by hosting seminars for judges with speakers drawn exclusively from the world of plaintiffs’ witnesses or historic amicus brief filers in support of the plaintiffs.”

The Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Law Institute created the Climate Judiciary Project (CJP) in 2018, establishing a first-of-its-kind resource to provide “reliable, up-to-date information” about climate change litigation, according to the group. The project’s reach has extended to various state and federal courts, including powerful appellate courts, and comes as multiple cities and states pursue high-profile litigation against the oil industry.

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A Fox News Digital review in December shows that several CJP expert lawyers and judges have close ties to the curriculum and are deeply involved in climate litigation, while the group attempted to distance itself at the time, saying, “CJP doesn’t participate in litigation, support or coordinate with any parties in litigation, or advise judges on how they should rule in any case.”

Power the Future included FOIA requests in the letter, which the group says shows coordination…