Records we obtained from Missouri show how state Sen. Mike Moon — a staunchly anti-abortion rights legislator — has sought to subvert the state’s measure related to abortion rights by trying to amend the ballot initiative process.
americanoversight.org/document/recor… Earlier this year, 380,000 Missourians signed a petition to put an abortion rights constitutional amendment on the ballot. In response, conservatives in the state pushed a bill that would have made it much harder to pass any constitutional amendment via a ballot initiative.

Floridians will vote in November on a ballot measure that would overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban.

Conservative lawmakers and interest groups have been working to make it harder for the measure and citizen initiatives like it to pass.
americanoversight.org/investigation/… Republican officials drafted a financial statement to accompany the measure. The statement argues that the measure’s passage would lead to fewer births, which would hurt the state’s growth and revenue over time.
nbcmiami.com/news/local/fin…

LITIGATION UPDATE: We reached a settlement in our lawsuit against Ohio Sec. of State Frank LaRose for records related to the 2023 decision to withdraw Ohio from the Electronic Registration Information Center, a nonpartisan voter-roll maintenance tool.
americanoversight.org/american-overs… ERIC was a non-controversial nonprofit that quietly helped states clean up their voter rolls by securely comparing voter data. A cascade of misinformation coordinated by anti-democratic activists, eventually led several states to withdraw.

NEW: Today, the Georgia State Election Board withdrew rules it approved in a recent illegal meeting, which was held without proper notice of a quorum. We’d sued the Board for violating the state’s Open Meetings Act.
americanoversight.org/georgia-electi… We’re pleased that our lawsuit, along with pressure from partner organizations on the ground in Georgia, has prompted the Board to withdraw the illegally approved rules from its sham July 12 meeting.

NEW: We sued the Georgia State Election Board for violating the state’s Open Meetings Act after it held a meeting on July 12 — in which it pushed forward controversial new election rules — without legally required public notice or a quorum.
americanoversight.org/american-overs… Georgia’s Open Meetings Act and others like it are vital to a functioning democracy by helping ensure official actions are conducted in full view of the public. Attempts to maneuver around it to advance changes to Georgia’s election rules are a clear violation of this law.

We obtained emails between top Trump administration DHS officials and Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist and wife of the Supreme Court justice.

The emails show Thomas sharing election conspiracies in the days before the 2020 election.
americanoversight.org/document/dhs-c…
On Oct. 28, 2020 — less than a week before the election — Ginni Thomas sent more than a dozen links to a Google Group called “20024.” “[Redacted] asked me for links we have all been sharing about the coming insurrection, chaos, and violence,” she wrote.

The “constitutional sheriffs” movement is a fringe theory that holds that sheriffs have more law enforcement power in their home counties than any other government body or individual. The movement has brought its work to the election denial space.
theguardian.com/us-news/2024/a… “Nothing is more dangerous to our democracy than a movement based on election lies promoted by radical law enforcement officials who falsely believe they are the ultimate authority, including on matters of election administration,” our Chioma Chukwu told the Guardian.

It’s #SunshineWeek, a week that celebrates & promotes access to information and open government nationwide.

Today, we’re highlighting the power of #FOIA with a thread about its past, present, and future. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed FOIA into law on July 4, 1966. Records show LBJ personally removed strong language supporting open government from the press statement. He only agreed to sign it after DOJ suggested he include a signing statement.
nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/…

Yesterday, D.C. Circuit heard oral arguments on presidential immunity in Trump’s election interference case.

Judges questioned both sides about our amicus brief arguing the D.C. Circuit lacks jurisdiction to hear Trump’s appeal on his immunity claims. Here’s what that’s about: In Trump’s federal election interference case, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that Trump is not entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution. Trump appealed the ruling, hoping to delay the trial set for March.

As we approach the anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021, former President Trump faces criminal charges for attempting to subvert the election. An amicus brief we filed in this case could thwart his effort to delay his trial until after this year’s election.
latimes.com/opinion/story/… In the election interference case, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that Trump is not entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution. Trump appealed that ruling, hoping to delay the trial set for March.

For more than a year, we’ve been investigating how the election denial movement led several states to leave ERIC, a nonpartisan organization that helps maintain up-to-date voting lists.

Here’s what our investigation uncovered. #FoiaFriday
americanoversight.org/american-overs…
The same people who tried to overturn the 2020 election worked behind the scenes to influence the ERIC exodus by promoting false claims and conspiracy theories — priming states for post-election chaos that could be used to deny election results in 2024.
americanoversight.org/the-right-wing…

Jared Kushner and Steve Mnuchin secured billions in investments from Middle East nations after leaving the Trump administration. We obtained travel records related to their trips to Persian Gulf states in the final weeks of the admin. #FoiaFriday Documents released through our ongoing lawsuit against the Treasury Department and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation include flight itineraries, travel authorizations, and expense records from three separate trips.

The effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election was built on a decades-long campaign by conservative activists and lawmakers. Here’s a look at this activism prior to the 2020 election and how the “voter fraud” narrative was built. #FoiaFriday In the last two decades, a robust “election integrity” movement has grown out of a conservative backlash. Activists have long used overblown claims about fraud to justify voting restrictions aimed at ensuring a conservative electorate.

We previously obtained emails between top Trump administration DHS officials and Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist and the wife of the Supreme Court justice.

The emails show Thomas sharing conspiracy theories in the days before the 2020 election.
americanoversight.org/document/dhs-c…
On Oct. 28, 2020 — less than a week before the election — Ginni Thomas sent more than a dozen links to a Google group. “[Redacted] asked me for links we have all been sharing about the coming insurrection, chaos, and violence,” she wrote.

Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Vos created a secret panel to advise on the potential impeachment of state Supreme Court Justice Protasiewicz.

We filed a complaint with the Dane County DA alleging the secret panel violates the state’s Open Meetings Law. #FoiaFriday The complaint asks the district attorney to void any actions of the panel that did not comply with the Open Meetings Law and take steps to prevent further meetings.
americanoversight.org/complaint-agai…

Earlier this year, Florida rejected AP’s African American Studies course.

Records we obtained shed new light on the state DOE’s review of the course — including concerns it presented only “one side” in discussions of slavery.
americanoversight.org/does-not-offer… The records, released in response to our lawsuit, contain internal comments from the department’s review that provide glaring examples of how the state has sought to minimize and whitewash U.S. history as part of Gov. DeSantis’ attacks on education.
americanoversight.org/american-overs…

We compiled a guide to public records we’ve obtained that shed light on the activities and communications of individuals named or likely referred to in the recent DOJ and Fulton County indictments of Donald Trump and his co-conspirators.
americanoversight.org/co-defendants-… Co-conspirator 1 in the DOJ indictment, identified as Rudy Giuliani, is described as “an attorney who was willing to spread knowingly false claims and pursue strategies that the Defendant’s 2020 re-election campaign attorneys would not.”

The House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing now on the report of Special Counsel Durham’s politicized investigation of the FBI’s Russia inquiry.

Durham was asked about the frequency of his meetings with former AG Barr, as revealed by records we obtained through FOIA. Rep. Jackson Lee highlighted a memo that Barr, prior to his appointment, had sent then Deputy AG Rosenstein regarding the Mueller investigation. We obtained Barr’s text with the memo. He wrote that he felt “very deeply about some of the issues taking shape in the Mueller matter.”

NEW: Documents we obtained shed light on former Trump DOJ official Seth DuCharme’s high-level involvement in Special Counsel John Durham’s politicized investigation of the FBI’s Russia inquiry.
americanoversight.org/in-the-records… The records include recently unredacted versions of documents, the content of which had been shielded from release under a FOIA exemption covering information related to ongoing law enforcement proceedings.
documentcloud.org/documents/2053…

We obtained emails between top Trump administration DHS officials and Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist and wife of the Supreme Court justice.

The emails show Thomas sharing election conspiracies in the days before the 2020 election.
americanoversight.org/document/dhs-c… On Oct. 28, 2020 — less than a week before the election — Ginni Thomas sent more than a dozen links to a Google Group called “20024.” “[Redacted] asked me for links we have all been sharing about the coming insurrection, chaos, and violence,” she wrote.

NEW: We’re seeking a default judgment against Wake TSI in our Pennsylvania election audit records case.

Wake TSI failed to respond to our filing adding the company as a defendant in the lawsuit.
americanoversight.org/american-overs… We sued Fulton County in January 2022 for public records from the election review, which was conducted by Wake TSI, a company closely involved in post-2020 election denial efforts. In April, we filed an amended complaint adding Wake TSI as a defendant in the lawsuit.