With their latest subpoena to the Obama administration, House Republicans risk descending into a rabbit hole, albeit a useful one.

Lamar Smith, the Texas GOPer who runs the House science and technology committee, has been seeking, voluntarily and then not so voluntarily, emails and other internal communications related to a study released earlier this year by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The study, by adjusting upward temperature readings from certain ocean buoys to match shipboard measurements, eliminated the “pause” in global warming seen in most temperature studies over the past 15 years.

Read the article “The Next Global Warming Scandal?” on wsj.com.