Main: A banner showing President Donald Trump is displayed on the Department of Justice building in Washington on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 (AP Photo/Matt Rourke). Left inset: In this Dec. 11, 2007, file photo, Commissioner Beryl A. Howell speaks during a U.S. Sentencing Commission meeting in Washington (AP Photo/Stephen J. Boitano, File).
A federal judge has ordered the Department of Justice to provide a “partial” list explaining why certain records are being kept secret after the Democratic National Committee accused the Trump administration of turning over “vanishingly few documents” about any plans to send federal agents to polling places during the upcoming midterm elections.
Senior U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said Saturday that the “time sensitivity of upcoming elections” shaped her decision requiring the government to produce “a partial Vaughn Index” by Sept. 10. Such an index identifies withheld documents, describes them, and lays out the legal rationale for claiming they are exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.
Howell in mid-July ordered ICE and CBP to “immediately begin processing potentially responsive” records “at a rate of at least 1,000 pages per month” after the government abruptly reversed its earlier position that “no responsive records were found.” The case seeks documents “concerning potential deployment of federal agents and troops to polling places, drop boxes, and election offices.”
“Further, to be clear, ICE and CBP shall still process 1,000 pages of potentially responsive material for the month of July 2026 and each month thereafter, and produce non-exempt responsive records during completion of any ongoing searches,” Howell ordered.
In a Friday filing, attorneys for the DNC credited Howell with pushing the administration toward “halting progress towards compliance.” But they argued that progress remains inadequate, accusing the government of deliberately “queueing” nonresponsive documents ahead of responsive ones in a way that “delay[s] public awareness of information contained” in the records.
“Nonetheless, Defendants have produced vanishingly few documents beyond public materials of marginal relevance and press clipping expressly excluded from the DNC’s FOIA requests,” the filing stated. The DNC urged the court to require a timely “batched production of responsive records” well before the midterm elections.
The office of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro rejected the DNC’s “insinuations” as “unfounded,” while also saying ICE had been notified about the complaint over the alleged “queuing” of records.
“Plaintiff objects that ICE produced press clippings despite a proviso in Plaintiff’s request indicating that press clippings without accompanying discussion by agency officials are non-responsive. In light of Plaintiff’s observation, undersigned counsel for Defendants has drawn ICE’s attention to this proviso,” a footnote from the DOJ explained. “Plaintiff’s insinuation that ICE is ‘apparent[ly] queuing . . . nonresponsive documents before responsive ones’ is unfounded and ICE stands ready to consider any technically feasible narrowing or prioritization requests Plaintiff may advance.”
A prominent Barack Obama appointee, Howell took senior status in 2024, having served as the chief judge of the district court in Washington over the entirety of President Donald Trump’s first term and beyond.
Chief Judge James Boasberg now holds that title and has proven to be just as central a figure during Trump’s second term.
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