Think Tank Seeks Damages Over ‘Unlawful’ Climate Subpoena

The Washington Free Beacon reports on CEI's ask that a court fine Attorney General Claude Walker for violating their First Ammendment rights with a subpoena. 

Attorneys representing the Competitive Enterprise Institute filed a motion in a Washington, D.C. court on Monday alleging that Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude Walker violated a D.C. law designed to prevent frivolous legal actions targeting policy groups’ rights to free speech and government redress.

Walker subpoenaed CEI last month as part of the anti-Exxon campaign. He demanded a decade’s worth of internal documents and communications about the group’s work on energy and environmental policy.

Andrew Grossman, a BakerHostetler attorney representing CEI, called the subpoena “offensive,” “unlawful,” and “un-American” in an April reply. He vowed to fight the subpoena, which was filed in D.C., where CEI is headquartered.

CEI argues that its policy advocacy falls squarely within that definition and that Walker’s subpoena was designed to restrict or punish that advocacy, a claim Walker’s office denies.

“CEI will not sit still with this illegal threat hanging over our head, which is why we are asking the court to fine AG Walker and end his abuse of the legal process to intimidate CEI,” Kent Lassman, the group’s president, said in a Monday statement.

Read the full article at The Washington Free Beacon