• On Friday, a body that advises US judges revised the document it created to help judges grapple with scientific issues. • The move came after a group of Republican state attorneys general wrote a letter to complain about the document’s chapter on climate change, with one of the letter’s criticisms being that it treated human influence on climate as a fact. • In response to the letter, the Federal Judicial Center has now deleted the entire chapter. • The Federal Judicial Center has beenestablished by statuteas the “research and education agency of the judicial branch of the United States Government.” As part of that role, it prepares documents that can serve as reference material for judges unfamiliar with topics that find their way into the courtroom. • Among those projects is the “Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence,” now in its fourth edition. • Prepared in collaboration with the National Academies of Science, the document covers the process of science and specific topics that regularly appear before the courts, like statistical techniques, DNA-based identification, and chemical exposures.
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