Davin News Server

Pay Up, Mr. Mann

By THE EDITORS

January 10, 2025 6:30 AM

For more than eight years, the climate scientist Michael Mann harassed National Review through litigation over a blog post - until, eventually, the 
First Amendment brought an end to his attack. This week, a court in our nation's capital ordered Mann to pay us $530,820.21 worth of attorney's fees 
and costs, and to do so within 30 days. It is time for him to get out his checkbook, and sign on the dotted line.

This restitution is welcome, if incomplete. As was made clear during the discovery process, Mann's explicitly stated intention was to use a "major 
lawsuit" as a vehicle with which to "ruin National Review." Happily, Mann failed in this endeavor. But, while all's well that ends well, his failure 
exacted costs nevertheless. Between 2012 and 2019 - with the courts inexplicably refusing to apply legal provisions ostensibly designed to prevent 
frivolous lawsuits such as Mann's - we were forced to spend a considerable amount of time and money defending ourselves against his malicious, merit-
less suit. Between 2019 and now, we have been obliged to expend yet more effort trying to recoup at least some of our costs. This week's award will 
not undo all of the damage that Mann has inflicted upon us, and upon journalism more broadly - we had asked for $1 million in fees and costs, and 
even that was a fraction of what we have spent - but it will, at least, go some way toward making us whole.

The details of Mann's conduct here remain shocking - especially in a nation such as the United States, which was built atop the foundations of free 
expression. All those years, all those words, all of that litigation, over ... a couple of blog posts that criticized Mann for an argument that he 
had offered up during a quotidian political dispute. Science - to which Mann is supposed to be devoted - inevitably involves disagreement. And yet, 
Mann proved incapable of handling dissent. Instead of engaging in debate, he sued us - for defamation and for the infliction of emotional distress. 
This, suffice it to say, is not how debate in America should work.

The legal system hasn't covered itself in glory, either. Our own justice was repeatedly delayed, and, when it arrived, it was via the back door 
rather than as part of a ringing endorsement of the right to free speech. And, disgracefully, both of our co-litigants, Mark Steyn and Rand Simberg, 
have been ordered to pay damages. It is often said that, in extended legal proceedings such as these, the process can serve as the punishment. So it 
has been. Or, at least, so it had been, until now. Hitherto, Michael Mann has engaged in his censorship campaign with impunity. The award of fees has 
finally exacted a price.

The promise of American law is that there will be material consequences for bad behavior, and, after twelve years, there finally have been. Mann's 
behavior throughout has been appalling. Now, he must pay up.

=====

December:

Ireland's Extreme Cold Warnings Extended

Heavy Snow Buries Japan

Northern Hemisphere Snow Trackers

UK Braces For -20c (-4f)

Ideology Above Energy Security

Finland To -38.9c (-38f)

Madhya Pradesh Freezes

Southern US States Expecting Heaviest Snow In Years

Kashmir's Cold Kills

Record Freeze Grips Pakistan

Depleting European Gas Reserves

Michael Mann Ordered To Pay $530,820.21 In Long-Running Lawsuit

UK Shivers At -13.3c (8f)

Cold Winter Exacerbates Romania Gas Crisis

Arctic Blast Continues Across The U.S.

Rare Snow Sweeps Sahara Desert

Europe Plunges Below -30C (-22F), Sees Heavy Snow

U.S. Endures Record Cold

Rare Tashkurgan Snow

Global Temperature Nudges Lower

Thailand Freezes

Record Snow In Japan

Parts Of Morocco See Snow For First Time In 50 Years

Cattle Futures Hit Record High Amid Looming Arctic Blast

Three-Day Snow Warning For UK

Extreme Snowfall Paralyzes Northern Norway

Siberia Nears -60c (-76f)

Record Snows For Uttarakhand

"Dangerous Cold"

Snow Reaches Athens

Delhi Plunges

U.S. To Freeze

Arctic Ice Up 26%

Dal Lake Freezes Over

Extreme Snow Roundup

Antarctic Sea Ice Recovering Quite Nicely, Thank You

Murcia's Record Lows

Red Alert In Bidar Amid India's Cold Wave

Italian Alps Hit -31.1c (-24f)

U.S. Cold-Deaths Double Since 1999-The Establishment Blames Global Warming

Japan's Record-Breaking Snowfall

BBC Still Pushing Polar Bear Propaganda

White Christmas For Europe

Bengaluru's Record Cold

Xinjiang Plummets To Record -42.5c

Antarctic Sea Ice Extent Higher Now Than In 1979

Bhopal Breaks 58-Year Record

Vostok At -40c (Again)

The Truth About Iceberg A-68

Extreme Cold And Heavy Snow Slam Finland

Europe Wind Power A "Shit Situation," Says Minister

Winter Weather Grips U.S.

India Reels

Vostok Below -40c

Snow Hits Malaga, Spain

Cold Wave Sweeps Pakistan

Canadian Prairies Near -40c

Texans Warned Of "Extreme Cold"

Antarctic Sea Ice Nearing 1979-1990 Average

"Excellent" Early-Season Snow Across The Alps

Delhi's Record Cold

Chilly Waters Stun Record Number Of Turtles

Record Cold Grips Indore

Asia Chills

Record Snowfall In Midwest

Another Round Of Arctic Air To Hit Much Of North America

Mumbai's Lowest Temp In A Decade

Northern Hemisphere Cold

Russia In The Freezer

India Chills

Northern India's Big Freeze Intensifies

Cold Wave Enters Vietnam

Freezing Lows And Heavy Snows Hit U.S., More To Come

Kashmir Freezes At -18c (-0.4f)

Below Average Antarctic Plateau

Another Round Of Lake-Effect Snow

Cold Waves Lifting Natural Gas Prices

Snow Returns To Scotland And Wider Europe

Global Temperature Tumbles

Antarctic Sea Ice Recovery

Severe Cold Hits Pakistan

Florida Set For Record Cold

Snowy November At Red Mountain

U.S. Battered By Cold And Record Snow

Parts Of Ontario Under A Meter Of Snow

Early-December To Deliver Another Burial To Europe