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The politics of the #ExxonKnew campaign took center stage in U.S. District Court today as attorneys for Exxon Mobil requested injunctive relief from Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey’s subpoena for company records.

Healey’s office has denied any political motivation for its subpoena, which was announced earlier this year during an “AGs United for Clean Power” press conference that featured former Vice President Al Gore. For much of today’s hearing, a photo of that press conference was displayed on screen.

Al Gore takes the stage at Schneiderman’s March 29th climate coalition press conference (photo credit: Reuters)

As the legal case for #ExxonKnew collapses – and as New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman continues to change his justification daily for launching this near-unprecedented action  – today’s hearing is just the latest event to showcase how this is a political crusade parading as a “legal case.”

The hearing today also showed how Al Gore’s involvement in all this could create legal headaches for the attorneys general who have signed on to the campaign. When the lawyers representing Healey’s office tried to put forth the argument that their subpoena was not political, Judge Ed Kinkeade was not exactly buying it. He challenged Healey’s legal team to explain how a case like this could not be based on politics, adding in jest: “like Al Gore wasn’t frickin’ involved!”

Of course, the very fact that the AGs formed a climate coalition at all – not to mention that it featured Al Gore – speaks volumes. Healey’s office argued today that the case was analogous to what the attorney general did during the Volkswagen emissions case. But as a View Full Article