Overview

• America First Legal filed suit on July 1 against HHS, CMS and HRSA to force release of records sought in its April 2023 FOIA request.
• The group says none of the requested documents have been produced despite FOIA’s 20-business-day response requirement.
• The FOIA request seeks internal communications on race and ethnicity data reporting and the OPTN modernization initiative launched after Biden’s equity executive order.
• AFL contends that race-conscious transplant criteria may conflict with the National Organ Transplant Act’s medical-need allocation mandate.
• The pending lawsuit underscores a broader challenge to DEI measures in federal health policy and will test agency transparency obligations.