August 22, 2019 – In the summer of 2019, the Emmett Environmental Law & Policy Clinic filed amicus briefs in the First Circuit and D.C. Circuit in two cases challenging former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s directive to exclude scientists who hold EPA research grants from serving on the agency’s scientific advisory committees.  The Clinic’s briefs, filed on behalf of former officials in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies, explain that scientists who receive EPA grants provide valuable and highly relevant scientific expertise to the agency, and barring them from the advisory committees would impair EPA’s ability to base its decisions on the “best available science.”

The briefs follow-up on similar briefs that the Clinic filed at the district court stage.  Clinic Deputy Director Shaun Goho and Clinic Fellow Lynne Dzubow updated the district court briefs, which were written by Mr. Goho and Clinic student Erik Federman (JD ’18).  These briefs are part of the Clinic’s ongoing work to address attacks on the role of science in environmental decisionmaking.

The briefs are available here: