DC Circuit Shields Justice Department Records in Election Case

The Justice Department doesn’t have to give Georgia state officials its communications with advocacy groups during collaborative litigation against a state voting law, a Washington federal appeals court ruled.

Written communications between the Justice Department and outside groups, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, during litigation against Georgia’s mail-in voting restrictions can be withheld under an public records exemption for internal deliberations, the three-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled on Tuesday.

The communications were exchanged while the Justice Department was in what’s known as a common-interest agreement with private groups, or an ...