Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier on Thursday issued a sweeping subpoena to the Environmental Law Institute and its Climate Judiciary Project, demanding records on the group’s funding, its contacts with Florida judges and its role in climate-related litigation. Uthmeier labeled the network a “Climate Cartel” and said his office is investigating whether activists have “hijacked” the judicial system to advance a net-zero agenda. The institute says it plans to cooperate and to make sure the attorney general receives accurate information about its programs.
As reported by Creative Loafing Tampa, the subpoena, served on ELI’s Climate Judiciary Project, seeks donor lists, internal emails about trainings and conferences for Florida judges and any correspondence with high-profile climate activists. The order is issued under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and aims to determine whether ELI’s activities qualify as deceptive trade practices. In a statement, Uthmeier framed the inquiry as an effort to “protect the integrity of our court system” and hold “anyone who is trying to deceive Floridians... accountable.”
The move is the latest in a growing line of state and federal inquiries into what some Republican officials have branded a “climate cartel.” In July 2025, Uthmeier’s office launched a related investigation and sent subpoenas to the Climate Disclosure Project and the Science Based Targets Initiative, according to Florida Phoenix. It also arrives against a shifting policy backdrop: Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a 2024 bill that stripped several references to “climate change” from Florida statutes, a measure detailed by Florida Phoenix.
Federal scrutiny and the CJP
At the federal level, Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee have been scrutinizing whether judicial-education programs run by ELI’s Climate Judiciary Project improperly influence judges who later handle climate cases. A committee letter and accompanying materials raise concerns about how transparent the CJP curriculum is and note that the project has trained thousands of state and federal judges. Those documents are publicly available in a filing from the House Judiciary Committee. That federal attention helps explain why Florida’s subpoena is aimed squarely at the Climate Judiciary Project.
Legal grounds and next steps
The subpoena relies on Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, the state consumer-protection law that lets the attorney general investigate unfair or deceptive commercial conduct. The statute gives the office broad investigatory powers and access to civil remedies. Legal analysts note that FDUTPA can result in civil enforcement actions, injunctions or restitution but does not itself create criminal liability, and that investigations under the law often trigger fights over records, privilege and donor confidentiality. Any pushback from ELI is expected to lead to litigation over how far the subpoena can reach and what protections apply to outside groups and lawyers, according to a summary of the law from Syfert.
What to watch
Nick Collins, a spokesperson for ELI, told reporters the institute will “ensure the Florida Attorney General has accurate information” about its work and defended its judicial-education efforts as evidence-based and neutral. The attorney general’s office has not indicated whether this subpoena will ultimately result in a civil lawsuit. Both industry groups and environmental advocates say the odds are high that records disputes and broader litigation will follow, as the sides clash over transparency, privilege and judicial independence.
Whatever comes next, the subpoena plants Florida squarely in the middle of a national fight over how science, private funding and the courts intersect. For Floridians, the outcome could influence who educates judges in climate cases and how nonprofits and companies disclose their climate-related work.
