Des Moines, Iowa — Today the ACLU of Iowa filed a lawsuit in Polk County district court demanding that the office of Gov. Kim Reynolds release several public records relating to the decision to block The Satanic Temple of Iowa from holding an event at the State Capitol Building during the 2024 holiday season.
In June 2024, the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers (IAF) filed a Freedom of Information Request under the Iowa Open Records Act. The formal request asked for communications and documents in the possession of the Governor’s Office relating to the State of Iowa's decision to cancel an Iowa Satanic Temple winter celebration in the rotunda of the Iowa State Capitol, similar to events the group had celebrated there in previous years.
The Governor's Office refused to produce the requested documents, citing "executive privilege," even though what was requested was clearly non-privileged: an executive agency report and documents relating to media preparation. Some relevant materials were turned over, but much was redacted. Also, the Governor's Office provided hundreds of pages of news clippings that mentioned the controversy but which did not actually address the request.
In a related development, the Governor's office today filed a lawsuit against the Des Moines Register because the newspaper also had been pressing it to produce other public records. The Register had formally requested documents pertaining to allegations about Lutheran Social Services finances. The Governor's lawsuit seeks to block the Register's attempt to find out more about communications in the Governor's office about any alleged misuse of funds.
It's not the first time Gov. Reynolds has come under pressure for failing to produce documents and communications about topics of public interest. The ACLU of Iowa successfully brought a lawsuit against her office because it was not responding to journalists' requests for information about the state's COVID response in a timely manner—or in some cases, at all. In 2023, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that her office is not above the law and her office must comply in a timely manner to public record requests from journalists from a variety of media outlets.
The IAF is an educational and social public interest group based in central Iowa. It focuses on issues such as secular governance, the importance of science, separation of church and state, and a transparent and responsive government.
Jason Benell, IAF president, said, "IAF contends that it is in the interest of the public, regardless of their religious, economic, ethnic, or any other background, that our government be transparent and responsive to the needs of the governed. This is extremely important when it comes to equal protection under the law and a government that respects the rights of all citizens. The Governor’s office has repeatedly refused to respect the rights of Iowans by unjustly and flagrantly asserting executive privilege in order to avoid accountability in matters of public interest. Iowans deserve to know if the government is intentionally discriminating against them, and the current executive in Iowa has shown an unwillingness to respect these fundamental rights. A transparent government is an accountable government and IAF intends to address this grievance by petitioning the courts to ensure the rights of Iowans are protected and transparency laws are respected."
Thomas Story, ACLU of Iowa staff attorney, said, "This lawsuit challenges the Governor’s claim of an unprecedented 'executive privilege' to defy Iowa law. For more than half a century, the Iowa Open Records Act has ensured that the work of the state happens in the open. Now, the Governor’s Office has decided it alone gets to decide what the public sees. The Iowa Constitution does not give it this authority.
"The specific documents withheld from the public eye in this case are an executive agency report from the Department of Administrative Services and multiple 'media prep' documents. These are not the kind of sensitive matters of national security and foreign diplomacy that courts have protected from disclosure under executive privilege in the past. It may be embarrassing to the Governor’s Office to reveal its role in denying a religious group equal access to the state capitol building, but that does not give it the right to hide what it did and why it did it."
Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, said, "As a plaintiff in the 2023 lawsuit (mentioned above) against Gov. Reynolds, the Iowa Freedom of Information Council is concerned that the refusal to provide some records concerning the planned Satanic Temple event at the Capitol is a continuation of the governor’s desire to shield from public release documents that might cast her in a negative light. The people of Iowa are entitled to evaluate their governor’s actions. That becomes difficult when the governor tries to hide behind what should be a very narrow interpretation of executive privilege."