Vice President-elect Mike Pence is seeking to keep secret the contents of an email relating to Indianas participation, at his behest, in a lawsuit to block President Barack Obamas executive actions on immigration, an Indianapolis Star article revealed Monday.
Pences administration brought in an outside law firm to join the litigation, which was spearheaded by Texas Gov. Greg Abbot. The move prompted one Indianapolis lawyer to request documents related to the decision to bring in outside counsel.
Per the article: Pence produced the documents in the request but those documents included substantial redaction, according to court documents. The 57-page response also included an email that Daniel Hodge, Abbott's chief of staff, sent to 30 recipients in various states asking them to join the lawsuit against Obama. The message included an attached white paper, but the governor failed to produce the document, according to court records. After a yearlong [legal process], the Superior Court held that the issue was not a matter for the courts to decide, citing a Indiana Supreme Court case decided just days before.
Pences efforts, so far upheld by state courts, were highlighted in an Indianapolis Star article Monday.
The effort to shield an email from public scrutiny follows an election in which Hillary Clintons campaign was hounded by her use of a private email server while serving at the State Department a move that was criticized as both a security risk and a blow against transparency.
The decision was appealed, and the Indiana Court of Appeals is set to hear oral arguments in Indianapolis on Nov. 21.
Pences office declined to comment.
