Law Firm Drops Mark Steyn and National Review in Climate Change Denial Suit
Lawyers depart after Mark Steyn insults the judge in his defamation lawsuit on-air.
Weisberg’s order is just the latest in a string of setbacks, which have left the climate-change skeptics’ case in disarray. Earlier this month, Steptoe & Johnson, the law firm representing the National Review and its writer, Mark Steyn, withdrew as Steyn’s counsel. According to two sources with inside knowledge, it also plans to drop the National Review as a client.
The lawyers’ withdrawal came shortly after Steyn—a prominent conservative pundit, who regularly fills in as host of Rush Limbaugh’s radio show—publicly attacked the former judge in the case, Natalia Combs Greene, accusing her of “stupidity” and “staggering” incompetence. Mann’s attorney, John B. Williams, suspects this is no coincidence. “Any lawyer would be taken aback if their client said such things about the judge,” he says. “That may well be why Steptoe withdrew.”
Steyn’s manager, Melissa Howes, acknowledged that his commentary “did not go over well with the judge.” But Steyn maintains it was his decision to part ways with his attorneys.
More from Mariah Blake at Mother Jones: A Coup for the Climate Scientist Whom Skeptics Compared to Jerry Sandusky