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Science and Climate Journalists Challenge Amy Coney Barrett’s Nomination to the Supreme Court
Over 70 people signed an op-ed denounce Barrett for her problematic stance on climate change
On Sunday, a day before Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, a group of over 70 science and climate journalists published an op-ed in Rolling Stone challenging her nomination because of her distressing stance on climate change. During the Supreme Court hearings last week, Barrett responded to questions about her belief in climate change by avoiding them and calling climate change a “controversial” matter of public policy. “Judge Coney Barrett,” the journalists argued in Rolling Stone, “repeatedly refused to acknowledge the scientific certainty of climate change.” The signatories include legendary environmentalist Bill McKibben, journalist Naomi Klein, and even Future Human’s very own Drew Costley.
As I wrote last week, Barrett’s statements about climate change show a blatant and alarming disregard for what scientists have concluded. The global scientific consensus is that climate change is real and caused by humans. While questioned in the hearings, Barrett called climate change “a very contentious matter of public debate” and said she “does not have firm views on it.”
“This is an untenable position,” reads the op-ed, “particularly when the world’s leading climate scholars warned in 2018 that we have just 12 years to act to bring down global average temperature rise and avert the most dire predictions of the climate crisis.”
Read the rest of the letter here:
