Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) continued to fight releasing documents from a meeting with President Donald Trump in November, saying that the public did not need to see them and that disclosing them would impede his ability to serve on Trump’s commission to investigate voter fraud.
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In the filing, Kobach, who is also running for governor of Kansas for 2018, seemed aware that releasing the documents would impact his work on the commission.
“It would undermine Secretary Kobach’s interest in fulfilling his appointed duty and responsibilities on the Presidential Election Commission which include being able to advise the President privately on matters within the purview of the Commission,” Kobach and his lawyer wrote. “The public broadcast of the Secretary’s documents related to these meetings with the President would hinder his ability to confidently advise the President.”
ACLU lawyers sought the documents because they say an attempt to amend NVRA would be a concession by Kobach that federal law, as written, does not allow the state to impose a proof of citizenship requirement. Kobach initially refused to turn over the documents to ACLU lawyers, saying they were irrelevant, but only did so after a U.S. magistrate judge forced him to do so. Those documents are currently under a protective seal from the court and not available to the public.
The magistrate judge also sanctioned Kobach with a $1,000 fine last month for misleading the court about the contents of the documents. In denying Kobach’s appeal of the sanctions, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson noted Kobach had a pattern of misleading statements before the court.