Attorney General Delegates Powers to Tort Lawyer in Exxon Climate Case

The Heartland Institute discusses the subpoena CEI recieved that attacked the organization's first ammendment rights with Sam Kazman. 

Other victims of Walker’s abuse of process have also gone on the attack. On April 7, a subpoena was served to the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) by Walker, in which he demanded CEI produce e-mails, statements, drafts, and other documents regarding its work on climate change and energy policy—including private donor information—from 1997 through 2007.

CEI responded forcefully to the subpoena. CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman issued a strong statement repudiating the tactics: “CEI will vigorously fight to quash this subpoena. It is an affront to our First Amendment rights of free speech and association for Attorney General Walker to bring such intimidating demands against a nonprofit group. If Walker and his allies succeed, the real victims will be all Americans, whose access to affordable energy will be hit by one costly regulation after another, while scientific and policy debates are wiped out one subpoena at a time.”

In mid-May, CEI took out a full-page ad in The New York Times. The ad text read, “Abuse of Power: All Americans have the right to support causes they believe in,” decrying the unjustifiable attacks on climate skeptics by AGs United for Clean Power.

Reinforcing the view Walker’s actions lack legal merit, just days after the ad ran, Walker withdrew his subpoena against CEI, although his office claims it may re-issue a subpoena in the future.

Read the full article at The Heartland Institute.