Event With Links to Oil Industry Teaches Judges “Healthy Skepticism” of Climate Science

ProPublica reports on a George Mason University Law and Economics Center symposium hosting 150 judges in Nashville to educate them on scientific methodology and climate evidence, revealing that the event is funded in part by ExxonMobil and features speakers with ties to fossil fuel litigation interests—occurring as congressional Republicans investigate separate climate education efforts by the Environmental Law Institute and Sabin Center for alleged bias. The reporting demonstrates strong journalistic rigor: Lustgarten names specific speakers and their conflicts of interest (Philip Goldberg's role with the Manufacturers' Accountability Project, Matthew Wickersham's representation of Chevron), cites internal fundraising documents showing the center's stated goal to instill "free-market values" and "healthy skepticism" of climate science in judges, and includes documented details about funding sources (Koch Foundation, DonorsTrust, Leonard Leo) and past attendance figures. The article contextualizes this against related developments—Republican attacks on the Climate Judiciary Project, state and federal liability-waiver bills backed by Leonard Leo operatives, and the Federal Judicial Center's retraction of a peer-reviewed climate chapter—though independent search results show broader global momentum on fossil fuel transition (Santa Marta meeting, Colombian climate conference) that frames U.S. judicial dynamics as part of a wider contested landscape. Watch for outcomes of Rep. Jim Jordan's formal investigation into the Sabin Center and Environmental Law Institute, the Nashville symposium's actual impact on judicial approaches to climate evidence, and pending climate liability lawsuits (Honolulu v. Shell, Baltimore v. BP, Boulder County v. Suncor) as they move through courts potentially influenced by these competing educational efforts.