Does the Constitution really protect a right to "academic
freedom"?  The law, lawyers, and the court. June 1 2010 6:19 PM
Jefferson v. Cuccinelli   Last week the University of Virginia
decided to fight a sweeping subpoena served upon the institution
in late April. State Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli subpoenaed
documents in connection with five grants awarded to Michael
Mann—a former UVA climate-change scientist who now teaches at
Penn State. Cuccinelli is using a state fraud statute to demand
thousands of e-mails between Mann and climate-change scientists
around the world. The request was both broad and unprecedented.
So the university filed a petition to quash the subpoena on
various grounds. Academics across the country have raised
alarms, signing petitions and urging Cuccinelli to back off,
claiming that this novel use of prosecutorial power to
investigate climate science in the academy constitutes a threat
to free inquiry. (Disclosure: Richard Schragger was the
principal author of such a letter from th