Competitive Enterprise Institute Re-Ups Lawsuit Against State Department For Not Releasing Paris Climate Emails

The Washington Examiner cited the Competitive Enterprise Institute on its efforts to make public documentation regarding the Obama Administration’s entry into the Paris Climate Agreement.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute on Monday sued the State Department a second time for withholding emails and texts related to the Obama administration’s strategy to thwart Senate Republicans in joining the Paris climate change deal.

The free-market think tank formally petitioned the State Department in both August and October under the Freedom of Information Act to release emails and texts from two officials, Trigg Talley and Alexandra Costello. The group says the correspondence will show the level of maneuvering by the Obama administration to find a way around Senate ratification to join the Paris Agreement.

The State Department did not respond to the group’s request by the FOIA deadline, so it sued the agency for the first time in October. In filing its second lawsuit against the agency on Monday in the D.C. District Court, it said the State Department has continued to “illegally” withhold the documents.

…

“In response to an August 2014 New York Times report about Obama’s plan to circumvent the Senate, the lawyer said this news ‘indicate[s] a disturbing contempt for the Senate’s constitutional rights and responsibilities,’” the group said. “Yet, Chairman Corker never publicly opposed Obama’s circumvention of the Senate. CEI seeks to learn just why this silence occurred.”

Read the full article at The Washington Examiner.