Thread by @HMAesq

BOOM!

Just won another major milestone in the quest to unseal the #TantonPapers. If you're just getting here, some background:

motherjones.com/politics/2021/…

After our win in the Michigan Supreme Court and remand back to the Court of Claims, the University filed a motion to dismiss. This morning, it was denied.

Decision:
hmalegal.com/uploads/3/7/9/…

The University's principal argument since the beginning was that the gift agreement between Tanton and UM served to insulate the sealed papers from FOIA.

Today, they lost that argument.

We had asked the Court to order UM to provide a Vaughn index, a log that identifies each document and states what exemption applies and why. It would be a good way to get an idea of what's in the sealed boxes.

At a prior hearing in July, we agreed to let the Court decide all the other issues besides the Vaughn index, in case the Court would dismiss the case and render the Vaughn index moot. (Vaughn indices are notoriously laborious).

Today, thanks to the skillful lawyering of @olcplc, the Court lifted the stay on that order, and ordered UM to provide the Vaughn index within 28 days.

Icing on the cake: the Court ruled that 3 of the boxes (15 - 17) - UM waived whatever right they had to seal them under the agreement because they were once open to research.

We think we can get at least those boxes right now. Stay tuned!

We expect UM to take an interlocutory appeal. And play fast and loose with the Vaughn index. But at every stage of this litigation, their arguments and options have dwindled, and today they lost the biggest argument they had.

It's been nearly 5 years since I filed the FOIA that started all of this, anxious to shed light on the eugenics-fueled white supremacy that underlies our immigration policies and exposing the #TantonNetwork's enormous influence in creating those policies.

They can't hide from us.

#SunlightDisinfects
#CrushWhiteSupremacy

(You listening, @stephenm?)