Virginia County Circuit Judge Peatross set aside a subpoena by Cuccinelli, Virginia's Attorney General, seeking the record of Prof. Michael Mann while he worked at the University of Virginia.
The ruling said the AG had failed state what was suspected to be false or fraudulent, but leaves the option for Cuccinelli to refile a new supoena.
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Cuccinelli apperntly intends to refile the subpoena as soon as he can think of something suitable fishy to randomly allege.
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The sorry saga continues...
WASHINGTON (October 21, 2010) - Yesterday, the University of Virginia made two court filings in its fight against Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's politically motivated investigation of climate scientist Michael Mann.
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For those who haven't heard rightwing extremist Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has subpoenaed all of the documents related to climatologist Michael Mann's state-funded research while Mann was at the University of Virginia (italics mine):
In papers sent to UVA April 23, Cuccinelli's…
Cuccinelli has no idea what's supposed to be false or fraudulent - he's just convinced there must be something false or fraudulent because the results of Mann's research contradict elements of Cuccinelli's worldview. The judge should have just not bothered with the subpoena and rejected it on technical grounds: "Invalid due to being signed by Ken Cuccinelli, please resubmit signed by an adult."
The judge should have just not bothered with the subpoena and rejected it on technical grounds: "Invalid due to being signed by Ken Cuccinelli, please resubmit signed by an adult."
I understand the appeal of that position, but I don't think it was legally available. Cuccinelli is AG, so the law presumes that he is an adult. I'm sure that Cuccinelli will find something "suspected to be false or fraudulent," most likely with outside help (one or more of the usual denialist suspects). The judge did limit the investigation to money originating from the State of Virginia, i.e., Mann's federal grants are out of bounds under the statute Cuccinelli wants to invoke.
The deeper assumption here is that VA state's attorney actually KNOWS some science in order to refile.