A federal appeals court says that work-related emails sent by White House science advisor John Holdren from a private email account might be subject to disclosure under open-records laws, the Associated Press reports.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for Holdren's email, but the Obama administration argued that email on a private server was outside its control. At the center of the controversy are emails that Holdren, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, sent and received from an account run by the Woods Hole Research Center, the AP notes.
According to the AP, US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected the administration's argument and overturned the lower court's decision. While the court said that the agency didn't have to disclose the emails, it did say that the agency has to go through them to determine which are subject to public disclosure laws.