Not Like This

Virginia's attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, is a climate change-denying Tea Party favorite, says Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait, and for the past few years has been going after Michael Mann, a professor at Penn State. Cuccinelli is trying to prove that Mann's work is somehow fraudulent and is using his power of the subpoena to interfere with Mann's work, Plait adds. As bad as Cuccinelli's tactics are, however, Plait argues that two Virginia legislators who are trying to remove his ability to issue subpoenas are going about trying to protect legitimate scientists the wrong way. "As we may loathe some of the tactics being used to suppress science, if they're being done in a legal manner then we must find ways within the system to fight them, and not try to undermine the system itself to achieve that goal," he says.