RICHMOND - The University of Virginia filed a court challenge today seeking to block Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's investigation of climate scientist Michael Mann.
The university filed a petition in Albemarle County Circuit Court as the first step in a legal process to set aside Cuccinelli's civil subpoena seeking documents relating to global-warming research by Mann, who left U.Va. in 2005 and now works at Pennsylvania State University.
President John T. Casteen III said the university intends to protect academic freedom. The issuance of Civil Investigative Demands, or CIDs, "has sent a chill through the commonwealth's colleges and universities -- a chill that has reached across the country and attracted the attention of all of higher education," he said.
Cuccinelli, at a Wall of Honor observance at the Capitol, said he would have no comment until tomorrow. The attorney general, a skeptic of global warming, is suing the federal Environmental Protection Agency over what he has characterized as flawed research.
Mann received five grants from the state during his tenure at U.Va. Cuccinelli is seeking Mann's work under Virginia's Fraud Against Taxpayers Act.
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