A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered parties in a global warming lawsuit to prep him with a unprecedented court “tutorial” on climate change science.

“The court is forcing these companies to go on the record about their understanding of climate science, which they have desperately tried to avoid doing,” said Marco Simmons, general counsel for EarthRights International, which helps groups worldwide litigate against major industries.

Alsup, appointed to the bench by former President Bill Clinton, has a reputation for immersing himself in the technicalities of legal cases. He famously taught himself the Java programming language in deciding a lawsuit that pitted Silicon Valley giants Oracle against Google. More recently, he asked lawyers for a tutorial on self-driving car technology in a lawsuit that pits Google’s Waymo against Uber.

Source: Federal court will hold first-ever hearing on climate change science