Climate Scientist: Defamation Verdict Is a 'Victory for Science'

Climate scientist Michael Mann has scored a big win against two conservative writers who compared him to child molester Jerry Sandusky. A jury in Washington, DC, awarded him more than $1 million Thursday in his defamation lawsuit against blogger Rand Simberg and National Review contributor Mark Steyn, the New York Times reports. In 2012, the writers accused Mann, famous for his 1998 "hockey stick" graph showing rapid global warming, of manipulating data. Simberg said Mann, then a Penn State professor, had "molested and tortured" data and compared him to the disgraced former Penn State football coach. Steyn quoted Simberg's post, saying he "had a point" with the Sandusky comparison and describing Mann's research as "fraudulent," reports the Guardian.

Mann said the verdict, which followed a four-week trial, is a victory for science and scientists. "I hope this verdict sends a message that falsely attacking climate scientists is not protected speech," he said. Simberg, whose blog post was published by the Competitive Enterprise Institute think tank, was found liable for the Sandusky comparison but not the criticism of Mann's research, the Washington Post reports. Mann, one of the country's leading climate scientists, said he lost funding opportunities after the blog post, but he was awarded just $1 in compensatory damages from each writer. The jury awarded him punitive damages of $1,000 from Simberg and $1 million from Steyn, the AP reports.

The jury found that the statements had been made with "maliciousness, spite, ill will, vengeance, or deliberate intent to harm." "We normally let scientists fight it out amongst themselves to discover what the truth is," says Lyrissa Lidsky, a defamation expert at the University of Florida, per the Post. "In these science cases, there's a lot of leeway for opinion. It doesn't mean there's carte blanche to lie about another scientist." Mann sued the writers and their outlets in 2012. In 2021, a judge ruled that the outlets could not be held liable, though Mann plans to appeal. (More Michael Mann stories.)