Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law v. Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity

265 F. Supp. 3d 54
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedJuly 18, 2017
DocketCivil Action No. 17-1354 (CKK)
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 265 F. Supp. 3d 54 (Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law v. Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law v. Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, 265 F. Supp. 3d 54 (D.C. Cir. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

COLLEEN KOLLAR-KOTELLY, United States District Judge

This case arises from the establishment by Executive Order of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity (the “Commission”). Plaintiff- alleges that the Commission is an advisory committee subject to the disclosure, notice, and reporting requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, codified at 5 U.S.C. app. 2 (“FACA”). Pending before the Court is Plaintiffs [3] Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction. That motion seeks an order requiring the Commission to hold a scheduled July 19, 2017 meeting “open to in-person public attendance and participation” and to disclose certain records to the public prior to the meeting. Proposed Order, ECF No. 3-2. Although the Commission’s affairs have drawn substantial public attention, the legal issues involved are highly technical, implicating the jurisdiction of this Court and its ability to afford judicial review for Plaintiffs claims, and requiring a fine-grained analysis of a federal law — FACA—that is likely unfamiliar to even seasoned legal practitioners. Given the preliminary and emergency nature of the relief sought, the Court need not at this time decide conclusively whether Plaintiff is, or is not, ultimately entitled to relief on the merits. Rather, if Plaintiff has standing to bring this lawsuit, then relief may be granted if the Court finds that Plaintiff has a likelihood of succeeding on the merits, that it would suffer irrepa-[59]*59rabie harm absent injunctive relief, and that other equitable factors — that is, questions of fairness, justice, and the public interest — warrant such relief.

At this, juncture, the Court finds that although Plaintiff has standing, it has not shown a likelihood of success on the merits, principally because it has not demonstrated . that, at the present time, Defendants are out of compliance with FACA’s open meetings and document disclosure provisions. The Court further. concludes that Defendants’ disclosures 'to date are sufficient for the public and Plaintiff to engage in an informed debate regarding the activities of the. Commission,' meaning that Plaintiff has not demonstrated that it will suffer an irreparable informational injury. Finally, the balance struck to date between the equitable and public interests in prompt-disclosure, on the one hand, and permitting the Commission to operate without undue burden, on the other, obviates the need for emergency injunctive relief, at least for the time being. Nonetheless, to the- extent the factual or equitable circumstances change, the Court may be required to revisit this and other determinations made herein. Accordingly, upon consideration of the pleadings,1 the réter vant legal authorities, and the record as a whole, Plaintiff’s [3] Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction is DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.2

I. BACKGROUND

A. Statutory Background

FACA imposes a number of procedural requirements on “advisory committees,” which are defined to include “any committee .., which is ■... established or utilized by the President ... in the interest of obtaining advice or recommendations for the President ....” 5 U.S.C. app. 2 § 3(2). The statute exempts “any committee that is composed wholly of full-time, or permanent part-time, officers or employees of the Federal Government .... ” Id. FACA was enacted out of

a desire to assess the need for the nu-rnerous committees, boards, commissions, councils, and similar groups which have been established to advise officers and agencies in the executive branch of the Federal Government. . ■.. Its purpose was to ensure that new advisory committees be established only when essential and that their number be minimized; that they be terminated when they have outlived their usefulness; that their creation, operation, and duration be subject to uniform standards and procedures; that Congress and the public remain apprised of their existence, activities, and cost; and that their work be exclusively advisory in nature.

Pub. Citizen v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, 491 U.S. 440, 445-46, 109 S.Ct. 2558, 105 L.Ed.2d 377 (1989) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

To achieve that purpose, FACA requires that an advisory committee, inter alia, file a charter before' meeting or taking any action, 5 U.S.C. app. 2 § 9(c), hold its meetings “open to the public,” id. § 10(a)(1), publish “timely notice” of each [60]*60such meeting in the Federal Register, id. § 10(a)(2), keep minutes and other records of its meetings, id. § 10(c), and allow “interested persons ... to attend, appear before, or file statements with” the committee, id. § 10(a)(3). FACA also mandates that, unless an exception applies under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), “the records, reports, transcripts, minutes, appendixes, working papers, drafts, studies, agenda, or other documents which were made available to or prepared for or by each advisory committee shall be available for public inspection and copying ....” Id. § 10(b). Finally, FACA requires that each advisory committee be “fairly balanced in terms of the points of view represented and the functions to be performed,” id. § 5(b)(2), and “not be inappropriately influenced by the appointing authority or by any special interest,” id. § 5(b)(3).

B. Factual Background

The Commission was established by Executive Order on May 11, 2017. Executive Order No. 13,799, 82 Fed. Reg. 22,389 (May 11, 2017) (“Exec. Order”). According to the Executive Order, the Commission’s purpose is to “study the registration and voting processes used in Federal elections.” Id. § 3. The Executive Order states the Commission is “solely advisory,” and that it shall disband 30 days after submitting a report to the President on three areas related to “voting processes” in Federal elections. Id. §§ 3, 6. The Vice President is the chair of the Commission, and the President may appoint 15 additional members. From this group, the Vice President is permitted to appoint a Vice Chair of the Commission. On the same day the Commission was established, the Vice President appointed Kris W. Kobach, Secretary of State for Kansas, to serve as the Vice Chair. Compl. ¶ 32; Decl. of Kris Kobach, Electronic Privacy Information Center v. Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, No. 17-cv-1320, 2017 WL 2861543 (D.D.C. July 3, 2017) (“EPIC’), ECF No. 8-1, at 1.

Apart from the Vice President and the Vice Chair, there are presently ten other members of the Commission, including Commissioner Christy McCormick of the Election Assistance Commission (the “EAC”), who is currently the only federal agency official serving on the Commission, and a number of state election officials, both Democratic and Republican, and a Senior Legal Fellow of the Heritage Foundation. Decl. of Andrew J. Kossack, ECF No. 15-1 (“Kossack Deck”), ¶ 1. According to Defendants, “McCormick is not serving in her official capacity as a member of the EAC.” EPIC, Second Deck of Kris W. Kobach, ECF No. 11-1, at 2.

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265 F. Supp. 3d 54, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lawyers-committee-for-civil-rights-under-law-v-presidential-advisory-cadc-2017.