I find myself tugged in two directions by the latest ruling in the defamation suit filed by climatologist Michael Mann. A professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University, Mann has long been an object of ire among climate-change skeptics. Now it seems they have let their ire get out of hand.
The lawsuit centers on an article published by the Competitive Enterprise Institute and reprinted by the National Review that labeled Mann — co-author of the well-known hockey-stick graph — "the Jerry Sandusky of climate science, except that instead of molesting children, he has molested and tortured data in the service of politicized science that could have dire economic consequences for the nation and planet."
Most likely the writer of this adolescent prose thought he was being snarky and clever. In a ruling issued last week, Judge Frederick H. Weisberg of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia took a different view. This language, he said, could easily be read as accusing Mann of fraud.