CDC ordered to stop deleting emails after conservative watchdog wins court case
A conservative government watchdog group has secured a legal victory against the Biden-Harris administration by compelling the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to stop the deletion of employee emails, which they say violates the Federal Records Act.
America First Legal, a right-leaning, Washington, D.C.-based public interest organization founded by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, sought records related to the CDC’s endorsement of controversial gender ideology in public schools in February 2023. In response, the CDC informed AFL that it deletes the emails of most employees 30 days after they leave the agency.
Following a preliminary injunction granted to AFL, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is now required to work with Attorney General Merrick Garland and inform Congress to recover the deleted emails and stop the destruction of records.
“Notably, while the Biden-Harris administration has been reprimanded for breaking the law, CDC employees have not experienced home searches or raids without notice or consent, nor have their families faced trauma, legal fees, or indictments,” AFL stated in a news release.
In April, AFL filed a lawsuit against the Biden-Harris Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and NARA. AFL reached out to NARA, urging an investigation into the CDC’s email deletion policy.
“NARA investigated but concluded that since the ‘CDC instructs individual email account holders to apply retention based on the email’s content value and its applicability to a NARA-approved records schedule,’ the matter was considered closed. In essence, NARA trusted individual CDC employees to decide which emails could be automatically deleted,” AFL explained in a news release.
This is not the first time the CDC has faced scrutiny over its influence in the public sphere. Recently, it was reported that the CDC had a significant role in shaping pandemic-era social media policies on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, attempting to stifle dissent regarding the COVID vaccine.
Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, denied allegations of suppressing the theory that the COVID-19 pandemic originated from a lab leak in Wuhan, China, during a contentious hearing before the House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.
With ongoing legal battles and controversies surrounding the CDC’s actions, it is clear that transparency and accountability remain crucial in ensuring the integrity of government agencies.
