Newsletter:
American Oversight’s 2024
in Review
[link removed]

The past year has been a tumultuous one for our democracy — and significant challenges lie ahead. This week, we’re taking a look back at American Oversight’s work this year ([link removed]) and revisiting our biggest stories.


From the election denial movement that sought to undermine the 2024 election to the far-right efforts to reshape public education, American Oversight kept close tabs on influence networks and uncovered thousands of pages of records detailing attacks on democratic institutions.
* We launched our Threats to Democracy Tracker ([link removed]) , a comprehensive, interactive resource that maps out and spotlight the actions of election deniers and partisan actors across the country working to undermine democracy.
* Our 2024 Anti-Democracy Playbook ([link removed]) analyzed eight tactics used by anti-democracy activists and political leaders to suppress votes and sow chaos and confusion about voting processes ahead of the election.

* In Georgia, we sued the State Election Board after its far-right, Trump-aligned majority held a meeting in violation of state law, during which they tried to advance controversial new election rules. After we sued ([link removed]) , the board withdrew ([link removed]) its problematic rules, later reintroducing them ([link removed]) during a properly noticed meeting — but one held less than three months before the election. Our investigation also revealed the board’s significant failures in complying with the state’s public records law, leading us to file another lawsuit
([link removed]) in October.
* Records ([link removed]) we obtained from the Maryland State Board of Elections showed that two members were communicating and coordinating with a far-right election denial group called United Sovereign Americans, which was suing the board. After the Baltimore Banner ([link removed]) reported on the records, the board passed a bylaw ([link removed]) prohibiting members from communicating with litigants.
* We also uncovered documents detailing the Oklahoma state school superintendent’s extreme right-wing agenda ([link removed]) , records from the Virginia Department of Education’s ahistorical review ([link removed]) of the state’s African American history course, and emails showing confusion among educators in North Carolina ([link removed]) as they sought to comply with the state’s “don’t say gay” law.



Protecting the health of our democracy requires guarding against threats to civil rights and liberties so that all people can participate fully in society. This year, we investigated barriers to voting ([link removed]) , restrictions on ([link removed]) reproductive choices ([link removed]) , vilification of immigrants ([link removed]) , attacks on free expression, and conditions in detention centers.
* In June, we published a report ([link removed]) with the ACLU and Physicians for Human Rights that revealed 95 percent of immigrant deaths in ICE facilities could likely have been prevented with adequate medical care. The report generated significant media coverage and spurred Sen. Dick Durbin to launch an investigation ([link removed]) of medical and mental health care for people in custody.
* Documents we obtained that were reported on by NPR ([link removed]) this spring revealed that people in Texas state prisons submitted more than 4,200 heat complaints ([link removed]) over just five months in 2023. In response to our request to the Florida Department of Corrections for heat complaints, the department sent us just two ([link removed]) .



Our investigations and litigation also revealed abuses of power and helped ensure officials were held accountable for their actions.
* Early in the year, our amicus brief was cited in oral arguments ([link removed]) in a federal appeals court’s consideration of whether Trump was, as he claimed, immune from criminal prosecution in his federal election interference case. In June, however, the Supreme Court partially agreed with Trump’s claims ([link removed]) , further delaying the case and ensuring he didn’t have to face trial before the election.
* In November, we sued for records from the FBI investigation ([link removed]) of Matt Gaetz — who Trump had nominated as attorney general — for serious criminal allegations, including sex trafficking of a minor. Gaetz withdrew his name ([link removed]) from consideration shortly thereafter.
* Also in November, the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation filed a disciplinary complaint against Michael Gableman ([link removed]) , the former state Supreme Court justice who led the Wisconsin Assembly’s partisan and baseless inquiry into the results of the 2020 presidential election. The complaint outlines Gableman’s conduct and failures to comply with state public records laws, as revealed through American Oversight’s litigation ([link removed]) .
* Other records we obtained this year shed light on Project 2025’s recruitment methods ([link removed]) , as well as the close ties between prominent election deniers and followers of the far-right constitutional sheriffs movement ([link removed]) .



A strong democracy requires an informed electorate, and American Oversight took legal action in states across the country where officials were undermining access to public records.
* In Florida, we sued Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office ([link removed]) for its pattern or practice of unlawful delay in releasing public records. We also sued Pinal County, Ariz., and Sheriff Mark Lamb ([link removed]) for failing to properly respond to multiple requests.
* Our lawsuit against Arizona’s Cochise County and two supervisors ([link removed]) who had delayed the 2022 election certification forced the release of public records related to election administration and election denial efforts, including hundreds of communications that had been deleted.
* Other important wins for transparency this year included obtaining the Army’s incident report ([link removed]) from Trump’s August visit to Arlington National Cemetery, and a federal appeals court’s May ruling ([link removed]) that government agencies cannot use the “consultant corollary” doctrine to evade public disclosure when the supposed consultants have their own interests in the outcome of agency decisions.



Pinal County Sheriff’s Public Records Failures

Last month, American Oversight settled ([link removed]) its public records lawsuit ([link removed]) against Sheriff Mark Lamb and Pinal County, Ariz. The litigation served as an important affirmation of the right of Pinal County residents to hold their officials accountable, having revealed the office’s significant failures in responding to records requests.
* American Oversight and co-counsel the ACLU of Arizona filed the lawsuit in May 2024 after the sheriff and county failed to produce any records in response to five requests submitted between October 2020 and June 2023.

* At the time of the lawsuit’s filing, Lamb, who lost to Kari Lake during the state’s Republican Senate primary this year and whose term as sheriff ends this month, had emerged as a key figure in the far-right “constitutional sheriffs” movement ([link removed]) and its efforts to cast doubt on U.S. election integrity.

* The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office admitted in litigation it had failed to properly respond to the requests, including by not beginning to search for requested electronic communications until after the lawsuit was filed.
* Additionally, the office stated that “[h]istorical text message data” from two prior cell phones that the county had replaced in April 2024 “cannot be retrieved.”

On the Records

Tracking Trump’s Nominees

Reporting this week ([link removed]) revealed that Michael Duffey, a former Trump appointee who played a key role in the corrupt withholding of aid to Ukraine in 2019, is reportedly leading ([link removed]) the Trump transition’s Pentagon team. We previously obtained emails Duffey sent during the aid freeze.
* When we obtained the documents, they hadn’t yet been produced to Congress. Included was a prep sheet for Duffey ([link removed]) in advance of a July 26, 2019, “interagency meeting to discuss the President’s decision to halt assistance to Ukraine.”
* That meeting was one day after Trump’s infamous phone call asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden. The prep sheet was sent to Duffey the same day as that call.

* The OMB records ([link removed]) and unredacted versions ([link removed]) obtained by Just Security also revealed details about then-OMB General Counsel Mark Paoletta’s involvement in the scheme. Trump said earlier this month that he’d asked Paoletta ([link removed]) to serve as upcoming general counsel at OMB.
* Robert Wilkie, Trump’s former Veterans Affairs secretary, was previously reported ([link removed]) to be the Defense transition lead. Emails ([link removed]) we obtained show that Wilkie disagreed with a 2019 Fox News article by Pete Hegseth, Trump’s appointee to lead the Pentagon. “Nonsense by Hegseth and the Starbucks CEO,” Wilkie wrote in an email containing the article link, sent to two officials in the first Trump administration's Department of Veterans Affairs.


Other Stories We're Following


The Trump Administration
* Trump's transition is happening over private emails. Federal officials are nervous. (Politico ([link removed]) )
* Trump and his picks threaten more lawsuits over critical coverage (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Judge rejects Trump’s bid to toss hush money conviction because of Supreme Court immunity ruling (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* Trump tests ethical boundaries with branded merch. (And all sales are final.) (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Trump transition launches DHS landing team full of first-term alums (Politico ([link removed]) )
* A Hegseth DOD comes with a battle against public school education (Politico ([link removed]) )
* How Trump’s lawyer could steer the Supreme Court on abortion and trans rights (CNN ([link removed]) )
* In display of fealty, tech industry curries favor with Trump (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Billionaire rivals Bezos and Musk are said to have dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* After investigating January 6, House GOP sides with Trump and goes after Liz Cheney (CNN ([link removed]) )
* Judges increasingly alarmed as Trump’s Jan. 6 clemency decision nears (Politico ([link removed]) )



Voting Rights and Threats to Democracy
* The GOP stoked fears of noncitizens voting. Cases in Ohio show how rhetoric and reality diverge (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* Thousands of NC mail ballots rejected in 2024 would have been accepted under abolished grace period (NC Newsline ([link removed]) )
* A power grab by Republicans in North Carolina becomes a referendum on democracy in the states (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* How Pam Bondi boosted Trump’s election fraud claims in a key swing state (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* These Trump cabinet and staff picks had a hand in anti-voting litigation (Democracy Docket ([link removed]) )
* Georgia appeals court strips DA Fani Willis of case that charged Donald Trump with election interference (Atlanta Journal-Constitution ([link removed]) )



State and National News
* Pregnant Kentucky woman cited for street camping while in labor (Louisville Public Media ([link removed]) )
* Wisconsin assembly to set up DOGE-inspired committee called ‘GOAT’ (The Hill ([link removed]) )

* In reversal, key House panel votes to release Matt Gaetz ethics report (CNN ([link removed]) )
* Supreme Court to hear TikTok’s challenge to law that could ban it (New York Times ([link removed]) )

* Senate passes Pentagon policy bill that set off transgender-care debate (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* KY attorney general says transgender inmates are not entitled to gender-affirming surgery (Kentucky Lantern ([link removed]) )
* State Board of Elections fines Mark Robinson’s 2020 campaign 35K for hundreds of violations (NC Newsline ([link removed]) )
* Investigation of police ‘courtesy cards’ finds a 2-tiered system of justice (New York Times ([link removed]) )



Abortion and Reproductive Rights
* Are abortion bans across America causing deaths? The states that passed them are doing little to find out. (ProPublica ([link removed]) )
* Republicans pursue new abortion restrictions as Wyoming awaits ruling on existing bans (WyoFile ([link removed]) )
* Ken Paxton sues New York doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to Texas woman (Texas Tribune ([link removed]) )
* Report: Hospitals rarely advise doctors on how to treat patients under abortion bans (ProPublica ([link removed]) )
* Supreme Court takes up South Carolina's effort to defund Planned Parenthood (NPR ([link removed]) )



Threats to Education
* Walters reveals new pro-Bible standards for history classes (Oklahoma Voice ([link removed]) )
* Oklahoma education department proposal would track immigration status upon enrollment (KOSU ([link removed]) )
* Why it’s hard to control what gets taught in public schools (New York Times ([link removed]) )

* Youngkin proposes $50 million for private-school vouchers in Virginia (Washington Post ([link removed]) )

Immigration
* Tennessee governor appears ready to mobilize National Guard, state officers for deportation (Tennessee Lookout ([link removed]) )
* ‘The best time to prepare’: Migrant rights group warns undocumented Texans to plan for deportations (Texas Tribune ([link removed]) )
* Inside the 'targeted operations' ICE agents carry out against undocumented immigrants (NBC News ([link removed]) )
* U.S. deportations at highest level since 2014, ICE report shows (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* ‘No Place to Hide’: Trapped on the border, immigrants fear deportation (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Far-right sheriffs want to carry out Donald Trump's mass deportations. That’s not possible (Wired ([link removed]) )
* Shuttered private jail in Kansas could become immigration detention center (Kansas Reflector ([link removed]) )
* Texas’ latest effort to deter migrants is a billboard campaign in Mexico, Central America (Texas Tribune ([link removed]) )
* Trump’s border czar says he’ll need funding and at least 100K beds to carry out deportation plans (CNN ([link removed]) )

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