Out of order: Courts shouldn’t rule based on ‘trust us’ science

A training manual for federal judges just ditched its biased chapter on climate change. Good. But the same manual still peddles quackery about how science works — and it risks teaching the judiciary to treat models and “consensus” as proof.
The “How Science Works” chapter in the “Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence” invites judges to overvalue computer models built on unproven assumptions and to accept “consensus” as evidence even when empirical testing cuts the other way. That is not science. It is a distortion of the scientific method, which demands observation, experimentation, and results that can be challenged and falsified in the real world.
This is the posture of pseudoscience: conclusions protected by authority and repetition rather than disciplined testing against reality.
The problem runs deeper than emphasis. In defining hypothesis, theory, and scientific law, the writers omit testing, observation, and experimentation. They also fail to acknowledge that all three can be disproven — even though demonstrating falseness has long been central to scientific progress. Science advances not by protecting favored conclusions but by trying — relentlessly — to break them.
The chapter even claims that science cannot “disprove hypotheses.” That is historically indefensible. Science has disproven hypotheses repeatedly, and entire revolutions have turned on that process.
Geocentrism gave way to Copernicus’ heliocentric model. Phrenology, eugenics, spontaneous generation, and miasma theory all enjoyed “consensus” before evidence refuted them. Alfred Wegener’s plate tectonics also met decades of rejection before the evidence won. Consensus delayed the truth. It did not deliver it.
The chapter also stumbles over prediction. It says prediction is a logical consequence of a hypothesis, “not necessarily what will happen in the future.” That drains prediction of its most important feature: testable claims about what should occur under specified conditions. A hypothesis can be tested against the past as well, but the logic stays the same — it must match reality.
Then the chapter offers reassurance that reveals the posture: “The fact that there is room for improvement in the process of science does not necessitate distrust of hypotheses that have gained widespread acceptance in the scientific community and about which consensus has been achieved.” In practice, that treats consensus as a shield against contrary evidence — a common ploy among climate alarmists.
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In places, the chapter contradicts itself, sometimes gesturing at rigor, elsewhere diminishing falsification and redefining key terms. The result is confusion. Its length and muddled definitions do not clarify how science works; they blur it. Worse, they introduce judges to wrongheaded practices — overuse of models and consensus — as if they can settle disputed scientific questions.
That is not the empirical tradition of Isaac Newton or Marie Curie. It is the posture of pseudoscience: conclusions protected by authority and repetition rather than disciplined testing against reality.
U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg removed the manual’s climate chapter after objections from state attorneys general and others. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine still hosts the manual — including “How Science Works” — on its website.
Rosenberg, as head of the Federal Judicial Center, should take the next step and remove this chapter as well. Federal judges and the public they serve deserve a guide to science that prizes evidence over consensus and observation over simulation.








Apple hired THIS famous actress for the WORST climate change commercial yet
Octavia Spencer may just have played her worst role yet.
The actress starred in a bizarre five-minute Apple ad showing CEO Tim Cook and staff being scolded over their green credentials by her character: Mother Nature.
Cook later posted on X (formerly Twitter) to say: “At Apple, we believe that climate change is one of the world’s most urgent priorities and we are deeply committed to doing our part.”
Stu Burguiere is not a fan.
“Cringey is a good word for it, but it does not describe how awful this actually is,” he says, before tearing into the climate change-inspired spot.
The ad begins with Octavia Spencer being welcomed as Mother Nature by Tim Cook, who asks “How was the weather getting in?”
The weather then changes, and Spencer rolls her eyes, looks at Cook, and says, “However I wanted it to be.”
“Ah, see, she could change the weather, wherever she wants. And here’s the thing, then just change it so global warming's not happening. Right? Couldn’t you just stop all the catastrophes?” Stu asks, adding, “Well, I guess that’s not going to be answered by this stupid Apple ad.”
While he believes the ad itself is awful, he sees right through it — to the actual point. “This is really just a piece of corporate propaganda to try to make you believe that they are the greenest, most nice company in the entire universe.”
The ad continues with Spencer questioning the steps Apple has taken to stop climate change.
“You promised to bring Apple’s entire carbon footprint to zero. By 2030. Henry David Thoreau over here said we have a profound opportunity to build a more sustainable future for the planet we share,” she says, referring to Cook as Thoreau.
Again, Stu recognizes the scene for what it is.
While Spencer’s character is Mother Nature that’s scolding Apple employees, she represents a very real person.
“Instead of Mother Nature coming into these corporate boards and demanding they change the way they make their products and judging them like Mother Nature is judging Apple, there’s just some paid activist who comes in and has some, you know, corporate initiative to spread to stockholders and ESG people and try to make it look like they actually care about the environment,” Stu says.
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