“We ought to protect scientists from those who would try to suppress or distort their scientific work.”

But senior GOP staffers say Waxman, the ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, violated his own principles during his questioning of Gregory Jaczko, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), regarding his decision to shut down his agency’s work on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste depository last October, at a committee hearing last week.

Waxman chose to ignore a large stamp stating “NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE” on a series of emails between Dan Grazer, the data manager for the NRC’s Yucca Mountain licensing program, and Judge Roy Hawkins, the chief administrative judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, and made their content public.