“ACLU seeks sanctions against Kobach and public disclosure of Trump documents”

Bryan Lowry:

The American Civil Liberties Union has asked a federal court to enable documents from Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s November meeting with President Donald Trump to be made public.

Kobach earlier this month handed over the documents, which outline a proposed strategic plan for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, under a federal judge’s order. However, he marked the documents as confidential.

The ACLU filed a motion with U.S. District Court of Kansas in Kansas City, Kan. late Monday seeking to remove that designation and enable their contents to be shared with the wider public.

Kobach’s office did not immediately comment on the matter.

The ACLU also asked the court to sanction Kobach for his earlier failure to comply with the discovery process and to reopen discovery to allow Kobach to be deposed to answer questions about the documents. If the court sanctions Kobach, he will face fines.

“Defendant should be sanctioned for a pattern of misrepresentation and a fundamental lack of candor directed at obscuring documents that Defendant wished not to disclose,” the ACLU’s filing states. “Defendant’s misleading conduct has not only unnecessarily prolonged this discovery dispute…it has raised basic questions about the integrity of Defendant’s representations to Plaintiffs and to the Court, and merits sanctions.”

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