The Washington Examiner reports that a U.S. district judge has ruled against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for its practice of deleting emails of departing staff members.
Judge Rudolph Contreras found that the CDC's policy of disposing of former employees' emails 90 days after their departure is likely unlawful.
The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by America First Legal, a group aligned with former President Donald Trump. A Freedom of Information Act request regarding a CDC publication on LGBT inclusivity in schools prompted the legal action.
The CDC revealed that emails from two of the three employees who worked on the project had been destroyed after they left the agency.
Judge Contreras determined that the CDC's email deletion practice violates the National Archives protocol known as Capstone. This protocol mandates that senior officials' emails be permanently preserved and lower-level employees' emails be saved for three to seven years.
The CDC claimed it had not agreed to implement the entire Capstone protocol. However, Judge Contreras ruled that the agency had committed to the full implementation and abandoned part of the plan without proper authorization.
In his 36-page opinion, Judge Contreras wrote:
The available evidence suggests that CDC committed to implementing GRS 6.1 to manage the emails of all of its employees, that NARA approved of CDC's full implementation of GRS 6.1, and that CDC did not seek — and NARA did not approve — an alternative schedule to govern the disposition of CDC's lower-level employees' emails or records.
As a result of the ruling, the CDC has been ordered to stop deleting former lower-level employees' emails until at least three years have passed. This measure is intended to bring the agency into full compliance with the Capstone protocol.
Furthermore, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has been instructed to work with Attorney General Merrick Garland to recover illegally deleted records and ensure the CDC's compliance with the law.
Judge Contreras also noted that NARA should have referred the CDC's unlawful record-keeping practice to the Department of Justice but failed to do so.
America First Legal, the organization that initiated the lawsuit, expressed satisfaction with the court's decision. Gene Hamilton, the group's Executive Director, stated:
The Biden-Harris Administration was actively destroying the records of federal employees at the CDC in blatant violation of the law — and we are pleased that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ordered a stop to their illegal conduct. The Biden-Harris Administration's politicization of records management must end.
The ruling highlights the importance of proper record retention in government agencies and the potential consequences of non-compliance with established protocols.
In conclusion, the U.S. district court has ruled that the CDC's practice of deleting former employees' emails violates federal record retention rules. The agency has been ordered to cease this practice and work with NARA to recover deleted records. The decision stems from a lawsuit filed by America First Legal following a Freedom of Information Act request. Judge Contreras found that the CDC had committed to implementing the Capstone protocol but failed to follow through completely.
