Judges grill Trump allies on bid for voting plans from EPA, other agencies

The Biden administration and a lower court have said the deliberative plans are exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

By Pamela King, E&E News, Sept. 5, 2024

A conservative legal group wants to know what agencies like EPA and the Interior Department said to President Joe Biden after he asked for help in identifying ways the government can promote voting access.

A panel of federal judges appeared skeptical of an attempt by a conservative legal group to get access to strategic plans developed by EPA, the Interior Department and a swath of other agencies to help the Biden administration promote voting access.

During oral arguments Thursday, judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit questioned the challengers on why they are entitled to see the plans, which the government says constitute deliberations within or between agencies subject to exemption under the Freedom of Information Act.

The America First Legal Foundation argued that if President Joe Biden had wanted to keep the plans under lock and key, he should not have solicited them through a publicized executive order. But the judges pressed the group on why it could not instead ask the agencies through FOIA about any actions that resulted from their conversations with the White House.

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