CDC sued for for withholding records between top personnel and teachers union
Today, Americans for Public Trust filed a lawsuit against the Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”) to gain full access to email records withheld by the agency. In February, APT filed a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request with the CDC in response to the school guidance issued, which delayed in-person learning and kept schools closed. CDC responded to APT by providing over 400 pages of heavily redacted documents. The CDC argued that these documents were protected from public disclosure. Yet, the documents that were not fully redacted showed that that powerful teachers’ union, The American Federation of Teachers (“AFT”), lobbied to keep schools from re-opening. In some instances, AFT even provided language for the draft guidance.
Given the significant influence AFT has with CDC appointees, these records indicate that an agency entrusted to make decisions based on science has instead made decisions influenced by political activists. Further, given the significant amount of information, CDC has refused to make public, APT is suing to release the additional records. The public deserves transparency as to why powerful unions are seeking to keep kids out of the classroom and why the Biden administration is allowing them to do so.
The lawsuit can be read here.
