[Freedom of Information Act] Exemption 4 protects from disclosure trade secrets and commercial or financial information that is privileged and confidential. Exemption 5 [under which the Fauci email is redacted] permits the withholding of internal government records which are predecisional and contain staff advice, opinion, and recommendations.

Communications between Dr. Fauci and Deputy Director Lane and World Health Organization officials concerning the novel coronavirus.

Communications of Dr. Fauci and Deputy Director Lane concerning WHO, WHO official Bruce Aylward, WHO Director General Tedros Anhanom, and China.

In late May and early June 2020, Hedgepeth was vacationing in Florida after the end of the 2019-20 school year when violent street protests, rioting, looting, and shootings erupted in Chicago and many other U.S. cities in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 by Minneapolis police officers. In Chicago alone, 82 persons were shot, 19 fatally, over the May 30-31, 2020 weekend. On May 31, 2020, which the Chicago Sun Times described as the most violent day Chicago had seen in 60 years, Mayor Lori Lightfoot asked Governor J.B. Pritzker to deploy the Illinois National Guard in the city.

That same day, May 31, 2020, Hedgepeth posted the following photos of herself on the beach in Florida along with the comment, “I don’t want to go home tomorrow. Now that the civil war has begun I want to move.”

An individual responded, “Follow your gut! Move!!!!!!!!!”  Hedgepeth answered, “I need a gun and training.” The individual replied, “me too!”

Another individual posted a meme that same day suggesting that the riots could be stopped with a septic tank truck and a pressure cannon. Hedgepeth reposted the meme, obviously in jest, adding, “You think this would work?”

On or about June 1, 2020, Hedgepeth posted the following comment on Facebook in the course of an exchange of posts begun the previous day with a third individual:

I am about facts, truth seeking and love. I will speak on any topic I choose because I live in a free country. I find the term “white privilege” as racist as the “N” word. You have not walked in my shoes either so do not make assumptions about me and my so called privilege. You think America is racist? Then you have been hoodwinked by the white liberal establishment and race baiters like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Travel the world and go see that every nation has racism and some more than others but few make efforts such as we do to mitigate or eliminate it. I have lived and seen. The people I am informed by about the black experience in America are actually some of the smartest people in America. And it so happens they are black. I highly recommend studying Thomas Sowell, who is now retired and in his 80’s. A treasure. A truth seeker. [D]oes REAL research and analysis. Candice Owens is one of the smartest and most courageous women in America and Larry Elders speaks the truth with a great sense of humor and FACTS not feelings. They are who I listen to when it comes to facts about the black experience in America. Don’t you think there is a deeper problem than racism when 50% of murders in America are committed by 13% of the population? Do you think there might be a subtle genocide of black babies when most planned parenthoods are put in poor neighborhoods and that 30% of abortions are black babies. [B]lack women only make up 7% of the U.S. population. The greatest power you have is what you believe about yourself. [W]hat have Democrats, mainstream media and intellectuals in ivory towers been telling the black community to believe about themselves for forty years? Wake up and stop believing them, then things will change.

All of Hedgepeth’s posts were on her personal Facebook page. None of Hedgepeth’s posts identified her as a teacher or a District 211 employee, nor did Hedgepeth post them in her capacity as a teacher or a District 211 employee. None of the persons with whom Hedgepeth exchanged Facebook posts were current District 211 or Palatine High School teachers, staff, or students.

There can be no doubt that SB 826 employs a suspect classification – gender – to differentiate between similarly situated persons – current and prospective members of corporate boards. The Legislature has decided that there are not enough women on corporate boards for its liking, so it has enacted SB 826, which requires that corporations have a minimum number of women on their boards. SB 826 treats current and prospective board members not as individuals, but as members of two groups based on their gender. Women may compete for every position on a corporation’s board, yet men are excluded from competing for those positions reserved for women. No matter how strong a male candidate’s qualifications might be, he is never afforded the opportunity to compete with female candidates for every board position available, but instead must compete only for those board positions for which there is no gender preference. In this regard, SB 826 creates the same type of quota system for seats on corporate boards that was found to be unconstitutional for seats in the medical school class at issue in Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke (1978) 438 U.S. 265, 319-20 (“Bakke”).

The requirement of necessity is also absent.  Does California really need to impose a gender-based quota on corporate boards to improve its economy? To improve opportunities for women in the workplace?  To protect taxpayers, shareholders, and retirees or improve corporate sustainability or preserve public confidence? Are the tools available to the Legislature really so weak or so limited that it must resort to gender discrimination to achieve these goals?  To state such a claim is to refute it. Nothing in SB 826’s legislative findings or legislative history demonstrate that the Legislature had to resort to a gender-based quota system out of necessity to achieve its goals.

Diversity for diversity’s sake is never constitutional. “‘Preferring members of any one group for no reason other than race or ethnic origin is discrimination for its own sake. This the Constitution forbids.’” (Connerly, 92 Cal. App. 4th at 34 (quoting Bakke, 438 U.S. at 307.)) ….

Defendant’s “diversity for diversity’s sake” argument will not save SB 826’s blatantly unconstitutional quota. And of course, asserting that more women on corporate boards will add diversity merely perpetuates gender-based stereotypes about both men and women.

The Legislature made no effort to identify specific past or present victims of alleged discrimination or to identify specific perpetrators of such discrimination. No specific victims or perpetrators were identified in SB 826’s legislative findings, and Defendant was unable to identify any such victims or perpetrators in response to interrogatories seeking this specific information…. In response to an interrogatory asking Defendant to identify specific victims of discrimination, Defendant responded generically, identifying “women,” “corporations,” “California taxpayers and retirees,” and “shareholders and investors” as well as “the economy.” … Because SB 826 is not actually remedial and does not restore victims of alleged discrimination to the position they would have occupied absent the discrimination, and because no effort has been made to limit SB 826’s “remedy” to such victims, SB 826 cannot withstand strict scrutiny. Indeed, the blunt instrument of a quota is unlikely to ever satisfy this standard.