A federal appeals court has rejected former President Joe Biden's attempt to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts from his interviews with the ghostwriter of two of his memoirs.
The ruling came from a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The panel voted 2-1 late Monday, finding there is a substantial public interest in releasing the material Biden has sought to keep private. The court suspended its decision until August 3 to give Biden time to consider a further appeal, according to ABC News.
"We conclude that any remaining incursion on personal privacy from disclosure of the now-redacted materials likely does not outweigh the public interest in disclosure," the ruling says. The majority also noted that redactions to the recordings would help protect Biden's privacy.
Judge Florence Pan, who was nominated to the court by Biden, wrote a dissenting opinion. She argued that Biden has shown a substantial privacy interest in the material. "The conversations at issue took place in Biden's home, and the recordings of them were obtained by the government in the course of a criminal investigation that did not lead to an indictment," she wrote.
The other two judges on the panel were D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan, nominated by President Barack Obama, and Judge Gregory Katsas, nominated by President Donald Trump.
The recordings were made by Mark Zwonitzer, who collaborated with Biden on two memoirs: 2007's "Promises to Keep" and 2017's "Promise Me, Dad." Zwonitzer interviewed Biden at his home in 2016 and 2017. Biden's legal team has described the conversations as candid, personal and intended to remain private.
Special counsel Robert Hur obtained the recordings during his investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents from his time as a Delaware senator and as Obama's vice president. Hur declined to bring charges against Biden. Republicans in Congress then demanded the recordings. Biden sued to prevent the Justice Department under Trump from releasing them to Congress and to the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Biden appealed after U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump nominee, ruled in June that the public interest in the material outweighed Biden's privacy rights.
The case now moves toward an August 3 deadline, when Biden must decide whether to pursue another appeal.
