Claims of constitutional challenges are emanating from both Texas U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith and New York attorney General Eric Schneiderman in their fight over the efforts of some attorneys general to carry out their own investigation of Exxon Mobil and its climate change research.
Schneiderman responded after Rep. Smith and the U.S. House Science, Space and Technology Committee he chairs issued subpoenas of Schneiderman and Massachusetts AG Maura Healey. Schneiderman and Healey had not responded to informal requests from the House committee to provide information. Oklahoma Reps. Frank Lucas and Jim Bridenstine are members of the committee.
“The American public will wake up tomorrow morning shaking their heads when they learn that a small group of radical Republican house members is trying to block a serious law enforcement investigation into potential fraud at Exxon,” said Schneiderman in a statement. “Chairman Smith and his allies have zero credibility on this issue, and are either unwilling or unable to grasp that the singular purpose of these investigations is to determine whether Exxon committed serious violations of state securities fraud, business fraud and consumer fraud laws.”
He said the committee has no authority to interfere with the state investigation.
“This Attorney General will not be intimidated or deterred from ensuring that every New Yorker receives the full protection of state laws.”
Rep. Smith and other Republicans on the committee see it differently, saying they have a responsibility to protect First Amendment rights of companies, academic institutions, scientists and nonprofits who might have different opinions about climate change than those held by Schneiderman and other attorneys general.
Rep. Brian Babin, chairman of the Space Subcommittee called the actions of the attorneys general attempts “to use questionable legal tactics to force the production of documents and communications from a broad group of scientists—These actions are an attempt to chill the scientific research of those who do not support the attorneys’ general and environmental groups’ political positions.”
