The Politicization of Science

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's investigation into UVA scientist Michal Mann is an assault on academic freedom and an affront to the scientific process.
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This past spring, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli filed a civil investigative demand (essentially a subpoena) requiring the University of Virginia to produce 10 years worth of documents related to the research of climate scientist Michael Mann.

This assault on academic freedom was an affront to the scientific process and I was pleased to read last week that UVA is fighting the request. According to the Washington Post:

"The University of Virginia told a court today that Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's request for information about a former university scientist is so sweeping that it bears no relevance to an investigation of whether the scientist violated a Virginia fraud statute Cuccinelli used to issue the demand."

Coincidentally, this week the University of Pennsylvania cleared Mann of any wrongdoing. It is time for Cuccinelli to end his witch-hunt.

This post originally appeared at Al's Journal.

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