Congress is targeting the academic freedom of climate change scholars that they do not agree with

Last weekend allegations surfaced over undisclosed ties between Dr Willie Soon, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and corporate interests from the energy industry. Dr Soon is now under investigation, and a Democratic member of Congress has used it as an opportunity to suggest climate change academics who have been invited by Republicans to give evidence at Congressional hearings may also have hidden links to the fossil fuel industry. Bob Ward writes that these allegations are based on partisanship rather than evidence, and that academics from all disciplines should fight attempts by Congressional members from both sides of the aisle to stifle academic freedom.