Justice Department now hiding contents of communications, claiming they
are protected by attorney privileges, according to memo released under
FOIA.
"Thanks for reaching out. We are available on Tuesday at 4 p.m. to discuss those topics," DOJ trial attorney Jasmyn Richardson wrote Leah Aden of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund on Aug. 6, 2021 in an email string setting up one of several meetings and conferences about the Georgia law.
The topics for the meeting were redacted by DOJ, claiming they are covered by deliberative privilege and attorney work product secrecy.
Nearly all the communications after that time included a disclaimer claiming they were "Common interest communications" and were heavily redacted by DOJ to hide the substance of discussions before they were released under FOIA. Raffensperger said Thursday the redactions and the privilege claims smack of political favoritism, since DOJ should consider the American public and not one-sided political allies as its clients.
The official declined to address the appropriateness of the alliance between DOJ and liberal advocacy groups on the Georgia lawsuit.
File 001 us v. georgia complaint 21-cv-2575 final 0.pdf Georgia has pushed back against the lawsuit, noting black voting has soared in recent years in the state and the provisions such as voter ID are widely supported by Americans black and white.
The relations were so cozy that DOJ sent out its announcement of the lawsuit to a distribution list, and got accolades back from its liberal partners.
"We truly appreciate the work DOJ is doing to prevent voter suppression efforts in Georgia that are meant to suppress voter turnout from communities of color, including AAPIs." Ka'ai noted in her June 25, 2021 email that she was leaving CAPAC for a job in the Biden White House in a few weeks, earning a warm response from DOJ official Rayshon Payton.
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