A number of state attorneys general along with some state legislatures want to prosecute people and institutions that are climate change skeptics. Back in March, seventeen of these attorneys general vowed to use the legal system to pursue fraud allegations against fossil fuel companies and their supporters who they labeled as climate change deniers. In California, the legislature briefly considered (but did not pass) a bill with the title: California Climate Science Truth and Accountability Act of 2016.

Recently I had Dr. Kim Holmes of the Heritage Foundation on my radio program to talk about this new phenomenon. He was concerned about the impact such actions would have on the rule of law. If the California law had been passed, the state would be able to use California’s Unfair Competition Law and bring charges of fraud. At the March press conference, a number of the attorneys general wanted to launch an investigation of ExxonMobil.

If this became standard operating procedure, you have to wonder what other areas of investigation might open up. Should attorneys general start investigating social scientists whose research contradicts liberals who call for more gun control? Should attorneys general begin investigating scientists who believe in intelligent design rather than random evolution?

I suppose this was just the next step. Proponents of climate change have labeled anyone who does not support their belief in anthropogenic induced climate change as “climate change deniers.” This is an attempt to marginalize any dissent by creating an obvious verbal link to the term “holocaust deniers.” First label your opponents as evil people. Then label them as criminals.

This tactic would probably be more effective if it weren’t for the fact that some of the data for climate change has been manipulated and much of the climate change hysteria results from exaggerated claims rather than from scientific observation.