Unsettled Science

A superior court judge in the District of Columbia thinks she knows better, last month using the “settled science” principle to side with Penn State University Professor Michael E. Mann in his defamation lawsuit against pundit Mark Steyn, National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Each had published material critical of Mr. Mann’s famous “hockey stick” graph that has been used to peddle global warming while hiding the recent decline in global temperatures. The criticism was the sort of speech that ought to be protected under the First Amendment, but Judge Natalia M. Greene doesn’t care, and the case continues next month.