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The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights was sued on Monday by the Bader Family Foundation, for illegally refusing to comply with the Freedom of Information Act. The Commission claimed that a FOIA request for the outgoing emails of two Commission officials over a six-month period was too non-specific to qualify as a FOIA request, because it didn’t specify emails of a particular subject matter. The Commission has refused to provide the requested records, claiming that “the request fails to describe the information sought.”But the FOIA request clearly described the records it sought, listing the specific Commission staff whose emails were requested and the specific time frame covered by the request. The FOIA request sought the outgoing electronic communications for a six-month period (from July 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020), of two officials, the Commission’s Chairwoman, Catherine Lhamon; and Katherine Culliton-Gonzalez, the director of its Office of Civil Rights Evaluation.Catherine Lhamon has been nominated by President Biden to head the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. A Senate committee recently deadlocked on her nomination. “Catherine Lhamon’s track record is also deeply troubling if not outright disqualifying,” said the committee’s ranking Republican, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina. “Ms. Lhamon has a history of using inflammatory rhetoric, violating students’ constitutionally based right to due process, and abusing regulatory power.”
