Watchdog probes funding trail behind climate seminars for judges

FIRST ON FOX: A government watchdog group is following a possible new paper trail to find out who financed climate presentations for judges and is filing public records requests for financial information that could reveal how outside advocacy groups influenced the presentations.

Government Accountability and Oversight (GAO), a nonprofit organization, recently filed Freedom of Information Act requests for emails and financial records maintained by the Treasury Department that were reviewed by Fox News Digital, which the GAO said could show whether funds tied to the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) were moved through the Federal Judicial Center Foundation.

The effort comes as Republican lawmakers and legal critics are examining whether the seminars expose judges to one-sided climate presentations from figures they say are tied to the broader plaintiff-side climate litigation network, raising concerns about whether the programs create the appearance of bias for judges who then hear related cases.

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GAO legal counsel Chris Horner told Fox News Digital that FOIA requests are important; because those requests opened up a new path for his group and congressional investigators to follow as they investigate how the Federal Judicial Center, an investigative arm of the taxpayer-funded judicial branch, played a role in hosting the seminars.

Although not subject to FOIA requests, records from the Federal Judicial Center Foundation, created as a 501c1 by Congress, are public, Horner said. That means the foundation must have a public paper trail authorized to receive money from donors to support events, Horner said.

Fox News Digital reviewed ELIs Tax records, including 990 forms from 2019, show multimillion-dollar lump sums devoted in part to training judges. Horner said his group is trying to understand the “mechanics” behind this funding.

“Judges go from the courtroom to the vacation home. How does this happen?” Horner questioned whether the Federal Judicial Center, a public, nonpartisan organization, improperly used ELI money to facilitate judges’ participation in controversial seminars.

The seminars in question were climate-related judicial training programs involving the Federal Judicial Center and the Climate Judicial Project, which ELI launched in 2018 to educate judges on climate science, climate impacts and climate-related cases.

The Federal Judicial Center previously told Fox News Digital that it held a series of small, one-day seminars with ELI for fewer than 100 judges in 2019 and early 2020, before the programs became the subject of scrutiny from Republican lawmakers, conservative legal critics and energy industry advocates. The Federal Judicial Center announced last year that it would stop working with ELI in 2020. Fox News Digital has reached out to ELI and the Federal Judicial Center for comment on the current status of the seminars.

ELI spokesman Nick Collins said in a statement that ELI’s climate project began because courts were seeking education on the issue. He denied the project was linked to the current climate trial, which is being presided over by judges.

“[The Climate Judiciary Project] “Collins partners with leading educational institutions to provide courses that are no different from other judicial training programs that provide training in legal and scholarly subjects in which judges voluntarily choose to participate,” he said. “CJP does not participate in litigation, coordinate with parties involved in any case, or advise judges on how they should decide any issue or case.”

In its FOIA requests, GAO argued that the Federal Judicial Center Foundation is a government agency and that the law establishing the foundation gives it the authority to maintain a fund with the Treasury in which all of the foundation’s donations may be held. GAO said the public should have access to account statements showing deposits and payments.

The FOIA requests targeted records spanning multiple years, including potential data held by the Treasury dating back to 2015, as well as records from 2019 through 2021 specifically linked to climate seminars.

The requests did not reveal any improper use of funds, but the GAO said the records could clarify how outside money was handled by a public agency.

Horner called it “a huge gap in the stone wall,” referring to what he sees as an opening to learn more about the long-murky understanding of financial ties between the Federal Judicial Center and private entities that help bring climate cases.

Horner noted ELI’s well-documented ties to plaintiffs who have filed numerous lawsuits against major oil companies such as Shell, BP and ExxonMobil in the name of combating climate change.

“The judiciary has gotten into bed with the plaintiffs and it seems that instead of being transparent the judiciary wants to hide the evidence, which certainly does not inspire confidence,” Horner said. he said.

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AUSTIN, TEXAS – AUGUST 05: An Exxon gas station is seen in Austin, Texas on August 05, 2024. (Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images) (Brandon Bell)

ELI has been linked to plaintiffs involved in a surge in lawsuits against oil companies in recent years, including former board member Ann Carlson. ELI’s Climate Jurisdiction Project protects He said it was a “neutral, objective” resource for judges but that its curriculum was against fossil fuels. The Climate Judicial Project trains judges who can preside over cases against oil companies.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, claimed in a 2024 letter that ELI “plans to achieve through the courts something it cannot pass into law: a radical environmental agenda.”

GAO attorneys argued in their FOIA requests that the foundation’s financial information was of great public interest because it effectively lobbied judges on how to handle climate cases through these seminars and that the foundation could play a role through these seminars.

“These seminars were organized by parties affiliated with the plaintiffs’ legal team but were presented as objective background that judges should know about climate science,” GAO attorneys wrote in their FOIA request. “The Federal Judicial Center Foundation is authorized to accept gifts to fund such seminars.”

Senator Ted Cruz speaks during a roundtable at the U.S. Capitol on March 3, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

Critics like Cruz and the GAO have long argued that the seminars are not neutral and are instead part of a broader climate litigation ecosystem. Judges attending seminars on any topic are not normally a problem, but concerns have centered on who might influence the judges and whether they are part of the same network advancing climate cases.

Like the GAO, Congress investigates finances as part of its oversight of the judicial branch. In January, the House Judiciary Committee said ELI and its Climate Judiciary Project were targeting judges in districts where climate cases would be heard. The letter said ELI said its Climate Jurisdiction Project began in 2018 “in coordination” with the Federal Judicial Center.

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GAO’s FOIA letters signal that the Federal Judicial Center Foundation may be a missing link in understanding who pays for seminars and how the Federal Judicial Center is involved in privately funded programs; That could conflict with policies that U.S. courts are required to follow, lawmakers say.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Carlson, as well as the Federal Judicial Center, the Federal Judicial Center Foundation and the Treasury Department, for comment on the FOIA requests.