A top House Republican issued subpoenas Wednesday to the attorneys general and environmental groups conservatives argue are depriving companies and other organization of free speech rights.
Texas Rep. Lamar Smith issued subpoenas to Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, and eight environmental groups focusing on nonprofit groups for supposedly hiding information related to global warming.
“The attorneys general have appointed themselves to decide what is valid and what is invalid regarding climate change. The attorneys general are pursuing a political agenda at the expense of scientists’ right to free speech,” Smith, who chairs the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, said in a press statement Wednesday.
“The Committee has a responsibility to protect First Amendment rights of companies, academic institutions, scientists, and nonprofit organizations,” Smith said. The reason for subpoenas, Smith added, was because Schneiderman and Healey have refused to give the committee information.
Smith added: “What are they hiding? And Why?”
Smith’s subpoena comes two days after Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid created a Senate schedule for Monday and Tuesday, requesting 19 senators lambaste groups like Americans for Prosperity, Reason Foundation, and Cato Institute for supposedly creating a “web of denial” on so-called man-made global warming.
