Watchdog Files FOIA Requests on Funding for Judges' Climate Seminars

A government watchdog group has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for financial records that could reveal funding sources for climate presentations given to judges.

Government Accountability & Oversight, a nonprofit, submitted the requests to the Treasury Department for emails and financial records. The group says the documents could show whether funds linked to the Environmental Law Institute moved through the Federal Judicial Center Foundation.

The effort targets a new avenue as Republican lawmakers and legal critics examine seminars that featured one-sided climate presentations from figures tied to plaintiffs in climate litigation. Critics worry the programs created an appearance of partiality for judges who might hear related cases.

GAO legal counsel Chris Horner told Fox News Digital the requests matter because they open a path for his group and congressional investigators. They are probing the role of the Federal Judicial Center, a research arm of the taxpayer-funded judicial branch, in hosting the seminars.

Records of the Federal Judicial Center Foundation, a 501(c)(1) entity created by Congress, are public even if the center itself is not subject to FOIA, Horner said. The foundation accepts donor money to support events and should have a public paper trail.

Fox News Digital reviewed Environmental Law Institute tax records, including 990 forms from 2019, which listed multimillion-dollar sums partly for educating judges. Horner said GAO wants to understand the mechanics of that funding.

"Judges are getting from the courtroom to the resort. How does that happen?" Horner asked. He questioned if the Federal Judicial Center, a public impartial entity, used ELI money to facilitate attendance at the seminars.

The seminars were climate-related judicial education programs run by the Federal Judicial Center and ELI's Climate Judiciary Project. ELI launched the project in 2018 to teach judges about climate science, impacts and litigation.

The Federal Judicial Center held small one-day seminars with ELI for fewer than 100 judges in 2019 and early 2020. It stopped working with ELI that year amid scrutiny from Republican lawmakers, conservative critics and energy advocates.

Nick Collins, an ELI spokesperson, said courts sought education on the topic. "[The Climate Judiciary Project] partners with leading educational institutions to provide those courses which are no different than other judicial education programs providing training on legal and scientific topics that judges voluntarily choose to attend," he said. "CJP does not participate in litigation, coordinate with parties related to any litigation, or advise judges on how they should rule on any issue or in any case."

GAO argued the Federal Judicial Center Foundation is a government agency with a Treasury fund for donations. The public deserves access to account statements showing deposits and disbursements.

The requests cover records from 2015 and specifics from 2019 to 2021 tied to the seminars. They do not prove improper use of funds but could show how outside money flowed through a public institution.

Horner called it a "big gap in the stone wall" to clarify long-murky financial ties between the Federal Judicial Center and private entities behind climate lawsuits. He noted ELI's links to plaintiffs suing Shell, BP and ExxonMobil.

"The judiciary has been caught in bed with the plaintiffs, and the judiciary apparently wants to hide the evidence rather than be transparent about it, which certainly does not inspire confidence," Horner said.

ELI connects to litigators in lawsuits against oil companies through figures like former board member Ann Carlson. Its Climate Judiciary Project calls itself neutral but offers fossil fuel-averse curriculum to judges who may preside over such cases.

"ELI intends to accomplish via the courts what it cannot get enacted into law: a radical environmental agenda," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote in a 2024 letter.

GAO lawyers wrote that the seminars came from parties tied to plaintiffs' teams but were presented as objective climate science background. The foundation can accept gifts to underwrite such events.

Congress probes the financials too. In January, the House Judiciary Committee said ELI targeted judges in jurisdictions with climate cases. ELI began its project in 2018 in coordination with the Federal Judicial Center.