Court rules government can’t use private emails to hide from transparency
The Washington Times reports on the court's ruling in CEI's FOIA case against the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The case of Mr. Holdren, however, appeared to reach new limits. According to the allegations in court documents, he used his Woods Hole account for business communications. But when the Competitive Enterprise Institute sought those documents, he said that because the domain, whrc.org, belonged to Woods Hole, he couldn’t turn them over.
The court said that turned the concept of email ownership on its head.
Transparency advocates said the case could help prod government agencies to be more responsive to open-records requests.
“Today’s ruling makes clear that government officials cannot skirt transparency and public records laws by using personal communication devices,” said Hans Bader, who argued the case for the CEI.
Read the full article at The Washington Times.