When Politics Trump Science: The Erosion of Science-Based Regulation

September 2020
Citation:
50
ELR 10708
Issue
9
Author
Romany Webb, Lauren Kurtz, and Susan Rosenthal

The Silencing Science Tracker is an online database that records anti-science actions taken by the federal government. Drawing on three-and-a-half years of tracker data, this Comment analyzes the Trump Administration’s evolving war on science and shows how it is changing the way federal agencies perform, use, and communicate scientific research. We focus primarily on climate science, which has been the subject of particularly fierce attacks under President Trump, though
he has also targeted other areas. His actions could have long-lasting consequences, damaging the role of science in regulation for years to come.

Romany Webb is an Associate Research Scholar at Columbia Law School and Senior Fellow at Columbia’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Lauren Kurtz is the Executive Director of the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund. Susan Rosenthal is a Project Attorney at the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund.