Sanity Check

After a string of high-profile climate lawsuits, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has delivered a ruling that supporters of sound energy policy may have reason to celebrate.
In this episode of Sanity Check, David Legates examines a lawsuit brought by twenty-three young activists challenging President Trump's executive orders aimed at expanding domestic energy production. The plaintiffs argued that policies supporting oil, gas, hydropower, and other energy resources violated their constitutional rights and threatened their future. Both the district court and the Ninth Circuit ultimately disagreed, concluding that the sweeping relief requested was beyond the proper role of the judiciary.
David unpacks the legal arguments, the court's reasoning, and the broader strategy behind climate litigation campaigns led by organizations such as Our Children's Trust. He also argues that while constitutional and procedural challenges may continue to derail these cases, the long-term battle must be fought on scientific grounds. Courts may dismiss lawsuits for lack of standing or separation-of-powers concerns, but unless exaggerated claims about climate catastrophe are challenged directly, the underlying narrative remains intact.
What does this ruling mean for future climate litigation? Why are activists increasingly turning to the courts to achieve policy goals? And why does David believe the scientific debate remains the most important front in the fight against climate alarmism?
Join us as we take a closer look at a significant legal victory—and the larger challenges that still lie ahead.
Sources: 
https://montanafreepress.org/2026/06/02/ninth-circuit-court-denies-young-americans-lawsuit-challenging-trumps-handling-of-climate-change/

https://www.climatecasechart.com/documents/lighthiser-v-trump-memorandum_7eae
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El Niño may begin as a patch of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean, but its effects can be felt across the globe. In this episode of Sanity Check, David R. Legates explores one of the most powerful climate phenomena on Earth and explains why forecasters are closely watching the possibility of a particularly strong El Niño developing in the months ahead.
What exactly is El Niño? Why are scientists watching the Pacific Ocean so closely this year? And how can changing ocean temperatures near South America influence rainfall in California, droughts in Australia, Atlantic hurricanes, agricultural production, wildfire risk, and even food prices around the world?
Dr. Legates walks through the science behind the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), explains how El Niño differs from La Niña, and discusses what current forecasts may mean for weather patterns in the United States and beyond. Along the way, he offers a reminder that while climate models can provide valuable guidance, nature often retains a few surprises of its own.
Whether you've heard the term for years or are encountering it for the first time, this episode provides a clear and accessible introduction to one of the most influential drivers of global weather.

Show notes:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-026-01921-6
https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/european-forecast-super-el-nino-strongest-ever-ocean-pacific-atlantic-hurricane-season
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ninonina.html

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Our work is entirely supported by donations from people like you. If you benefit from our work and would like to partner with us, please visit www.cornwallalliance.org/donate.

This episode of Sanity Check examines a question that sits at the heart of modern scientific culture: Can science remain ethical when divorced from a moral framework? Drawing from a standout presentation delivered at the recent Cornwall Alliance Spring Conference in Memphis, Daniel O’Malley argues that science can tell us what can be done, but not what should be done—and that without Christianity, science risks becoming untethered from truth, ethics, and human responsibility. 
In this episode, David R. Legates reflects on his own experiences facing skepticism as a Christian scientist, from university audiences to media interviews, and explores the deeper assumption behind those encounters: that secularism is objective while Christianity is inherently biased. The discussion challenges that premise directly, arguing that every scientific enterprise is ultimately guided by some moral vision, whether acknowledged or not.
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For years, the most extreme climate scenarios shaped headlines, policy debates, and public fear—despite growing evidence that many of those projections were increasingly detached from real-world energy and emissions trends. Now, in a major shift ahead of the IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report, climate modelers are quietly abandoning some of their most dramatic assumptions. 
In this episode of Sanity Check, David R. Legates breaks down the rise and fall of RCP8.5 and SSP5-8.5, the “worst-case” climate pathways that came to dominate public discourse, and explains why CMIP7 is moving in a different direction. From coal projections and emissions trends to media narratives and scientific self-correction, this episode explores what these changes mean for climate science, public policy, and the future of the climate debate.
https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/19/2627/2026/
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/rcp85-is-officially-dead
https://www.theclimatebrink.com/p/emissions-are-no-longer-following
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51281986
https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-the-high-emissions-rcp8-5-global-warming-scenario/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360544217314597

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Our work is entirely supported by donations from people like you. If you benefit from our work and would like to partner with us, please visit www.cornwallalliance.org/donate.

This episode is a bit different from our usual content. We are bringing you a lecture from our inaugural conference, "Heaven and Earth, the Struggle for Faith and Science in the Public Square." If you missed our conference, you're in luck, because we're bringing you a key lecture from our very own Vijay Jayaraj. He dismantles the "green" movement and demonstrates, with compelling evidence, how these protocols damage the developing world. 
Visit our podcast resource page: https://cornwallalliance.org/listen%20to%20our%20podcast%20created%20to%20reign/

Our work is entirely supported by donations from people like you. If you benefit from our work and would like to partner with us, please visit www.cornwallalliance.org/donate.