Don't waste your time reading the liberal press about this one. The Virginia Supreme Court issued a decision in the case in which Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli sought emails from the University of Virginia about Michael Mann's "hockey stick" graph, made famous by the Climategate fiasco. Cuccinelli issued a subpoena under the Fraud Against Taxpayers Act (FATA), which authorizes investigations of suspected fraud to obtain taxpayer money. The court ruled that Cuccinelli could not get the emails. But the decision was not about academic freedom or anything like it, although the liberal press would like you to believe that it was. In fact, the decision highlights one of the many ways that government is allowed to break the law. FATA allows the Attorney General to investigate suspected fraud used to obtain state funds. The Attorney General may issue a civil investigation demand, which is essentially a subpoena, to any "person" suspected of using fraud to obtain state funds. Any...(Read Full Post)