[Townhall] A conservative law firm is taking the Federal Bureau of Investigation to federal court for withholding the manifesto of trans-identified shooter Audrey "Aiden" Hale, who mass murdered six victims, including three children, at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 27, as litigation mounts over law enforcement's refusal to release Hale's writings.Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL)'s lawsuit against the FBI was filed Wednesday morning in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on behalf of its clients: The Star News Network, a Nashville-headquartered conservative media company that operates a nationwide family of digital newspapers; its editor-in-chief Mike Leahy; and reporter Matt Kittle.
The plaintiffs had submitted a public records request on April 20 under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requesting access to Hale's manifesto and, after the FBI denied the formal FOIA request seeking a copy of the manifesto, WILL appealed to the U.S. Department of Justice, a preliminary step required by federal law. Then on May 5, the Biden administration's DOJ rejected the expedited administrative-appeal challenge and affirmed the FBI's April 25 decision, triggering WILL's latest legal action.
According to the FBI's denial memo addressed to The Star News Network's journalist, the bureau stated that the material requested is "located in an investigative file which is exempt from disclosure," pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(A). The FBI's letter also asserted that the information's release could "reasonably be expected to interfere with [law] enforcement proceedings."