The rightwing campaign to control how US judges view the climate crisis

US energy secretary Chris Wright featured in seminars to judges when he was a fracking executive

A s cities and states sue big oil for billions in damages over allegations that it covered up the dangers of its products, rightwing organizations are attempting to discredit the wave of litigation. They claim the lawyers behind it are teaming up with an environmentally focused legal education non-profit to bias federal judges against oil companies.

But it is actually fossil fuel-backed organizations that are attempting to sway the judiciary in their favor, one of those law firms is countering. Evidence of this includes judicial seminars hosted by one such group featuring pro-industry speakers such as the current energy secretary, Chris Wright, in his former occupation as a fracking executive.

The stakes of this rightwing influence campaign could not be higher, said Kert Davies, director of special investigations at the Center for Climate Integrity. “The goal is to create an atmosphere around climate litigation that makes the issue seem politicized, or like something that judges should rule on cautiously,” he said. “If judges are led to believe that the cases are somehow too political, or that climate science is sketchy … they’re less likely to rule against defendants in climate lawsuits.”

For three years , Republican lawmakers have gone after the Washington DC-based non-profit Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and its Climate Judiciary Project, which holds seminars for lawyers and judges about the climate crisis. The project aims to provide “evidence-based judicial education about climate science and how it arises in the law”, according to ELI’s website.

But the Republican-led House judiciary committee claims that ELI has conducted “improper attempts … to influence federal judges”. The House judiciary chair, Jim Jordan of Ohio, and House judiciary subcommittee on courts chair, Darrell Issa of California, requested documents and information regarding the allegations in August, and formally launched an investigation into the group this year.

Among the groups being investigated for alleged links to ELI is Sher Edling, a law firm that has filed more than two dozen climate deception lawsuits on behalf of states and municipalities against major fossil fuel companies. In a letter to the committee late last month which was provided to the Guardian, William Pittard, an attorney representing the firm, said: “There is nothing extraordinary, and certainly nothing nefarious, about Sher Edling’s touchpoints with ELI, which are minimal.”

In fact, Pittard wrote in the missive, which was first covered by E&E News , Sher Edling’s connection to ELI “pales in relation” to its links with companies targeted by climate accountability litigation. The organization has taken funding from BP, Chevron, and Koch Industries – all defendants in the lawsuits. Its board has also included a BP executive and a Shell executive, and currently includes a lawyer who represents BP in three climate accountability cases and a legal officer who used to work for Shell affiliates.