On Thursday, the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) filed a cross-motion in federal court as part of an ongoing case 2:22-cv-00252 against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) asking the court to order DOJ to immediately produce its Strategic Plan to carry out President Biden’s Executive Order 14019, titled ‘Promoting Access to Voting’ as well as other documents that it is withholding.
FGA was due to receive the requested documents on September 8th, but DOJ did not fully comply with a court order to turn over the requested records.
FGA’s motion argues, “[a]lthough EO 14019 ordered DOJ to adopt election-related policies, and DOJ publicly touts its implementation, and another agency (Department of Defense) apparently had no problem with making its strategic plan publicly available, DOJ is erroneously asserting executive privileges under Exemption 5 and unlawfully withholding [its strategic plan] and other public records.”
“The Constitution does not envision a role for the president in administering elections, yet that is precisely what President Biden is seeking to do—and his administration is taking great pains to hide their efforts,” stated FGA CEO and President Tarren Bragdon. “DOJ is claiming the documents it is withholding are protected by certain privileges, but neither of the claimed privileges applies to the documents we’re seeking to share with the American people.”
According to DOJ documents obtained by FGA through its FOIA, back in May 2021, a Senior White House official expressed gratitude to a number of federal agencies for the “ambitious and creative ideas that agencies across the government have already begun to develop in order to advance the EO’s mandate to expand access to voter registration and political participation.” [p. 0016, DOJ return to FGA].
“Why is DOJ and the Biden administration working so hard to hide the full details of these ambitious and creative ideas,” asked Bragdon. “It makes you wonder: what are they hiding? Whatever it is, FGA intends to find out.”
The administration’s efforts, along with the secrecy it has imposed, have raised questions about how fair the administration’s voter registration and voter mobilization program is and whether it is aimed at providing a boost to one party over another. FGA will continue to fight and hold the Biden administration accountable for its lack of transparency.
For more information on the FGA v. DOJ federal lawsuit, see here.
