Trump ordered federal review of scientific manual used by federal judges
On July 20, 2026, President Trump posted on Truth Social directing "federal suspension and debarment officials" to review the National Academy of Sciences' Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, calling its climate science content "fraudulent" and "bogus." The manual serves as a reference resource for federal judges evaluating scientific testimony. The Federal Judicial Center had already removed the manual's climate chapter in February 2026 under pressure from Republican state attorneys general; Trump's directive escalated that pressure by invoking executive contracting enforcement authority against the NAS.
Actors
On July 20, 2026, President Trump posted on Truth Social calling for "federal suspension and debarment officials" to review the National Academy of Sciences' Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, labeling its climate science content "fraudulent, biased, and misleading." Trump wrote that the manual had been used by federal judges to decide "massive 'climate change' cases" causing "huge losses" and that judges deserved "Facts and Science, not Political Fraud and False Science."
The Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, produced in partnership between the NAS and the Federal Judicial Center — the judiciary's research arm — is used by federal judges when evaluating expert scientific testimony in litigation. Its fourth edition, released in December, included a new chapter on climate science. The Federal Judicial Center removed that climate chapter from its distribution in February 2026 after Republican state attorneys general wrote to the FJC arguing the chapter was "highly biased, agenda-driven" and that contributing authors had conflicts of interest due to involvement in climate litigation against fossil fuel companies.
Trump's directive was addressed to federal suspension and debarment officials, who oversee whether entities that receive federal contracts or grants remain eligible for such awards — giving the post the force of an implied threat to the NAS's federal funding relationships. It was not immediately clear from the post whether Trump had formally signed any executive order or directive, or whether the Truth Social post itself was the directive.
Why we recorded this
Federal judges rely on the National Academy of Sciences' Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence to evaluate complex scientific testimony in litigation. When the executive branch directs federal suspension and debarment officials to investigate the organization that produces that manual — explicitly because its climate science content is "bogus" and "fraudulent" — it uses the threat of contracting sanctions to pressure a scientific body over the content of resources courts use to decide cases. This entry records the first presidential directive explicitly targeting a judicial reference resource for executive enforcement review, escalating from the Federal Judicial Center's February 2026 removal of the manual's climate chapter.
Sources
- Trump demands review of scientific manual used by federal judges — Courthouse News Service investigative accessed July 21, 2026
- Trump calls for review related to scientific manual used by judges — Reuters primary accessed July 21, 2026
See also
- White House fired court-appointed Seattle U.S. Attorney Roger Rogoff within an hour of his swearing-in
- Trump demands a federal judge be criminally charged and impeached over a ruling against him
- White House fires court-appointed U.S. Attorney Donald Kinsella hours after judges seated him
- New York Times investigation revealed White House privately pressured Merit Systems Protection Board over federal-firing ruling
- DHS General Counsel Percival publicly branded four federal judges 'Worst of the Worst' over immigration rulings
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