US court backs release of Biden memoir recordings
A US federal appeals court has cleared the way for the release of Joe Biden’s recorded memoir interviews, deepening institutional friction in Washington that European investors watch as a gauge of US political stability.
A divided US federal appeals court has rejected former President Joe Biden’s attempt to block the release of audio recordings from his memoir interviews. The ruling means the tapes, seized during a high-profile classified documents probe, are poised to enter the public domain unless the Supreme Court intervenes before a deadline set for early August.
The three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voted 2-1 to uphold a June decision by US District Judge Dabney Friedrich. The appellate judges suspended their own mandate until 3 August, giving Biden's legal team a narrow window to petition the Supreme Court.
The majority found that while the former president has privacy rights, they are outweighed by the public’s interest in the material, particularly since the recordings can be redacted. “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 court wrote.
The dispute centres on sessions with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer conducted at Biden’s home in 2016 and 2017. Biden’s lawyers have consistently argued these were candid, personal exchanges never intended for public consumption. The recordings entered government possession when special counsel Robert Hur obtained them during his investigation into Biden’s handling of classified files from his time as a senator from Delaware and as Obama's vice president.
Although Hur decided against charging Biden, Republican legislators demanded the audio files shortly after his decision. Biden subsequently filed suit to stop the Trump administration’s Justice Department from releasing the tapes to Congress and the conservative Heritage Foundation.
For European policymakers and investors, the legal battle is a marker of Washington’s deepening institutional volatility. The use of criminal investigations to supply political ammunition creates an unpredictable environment that complicates transatlantic coordination on trade and security.
Judge Florence Pan, nominated by Biden, dissented, arguing the majority had effectively doomed the case by clearing the way for immediate release, rendering it "moot." “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, asserting he retains a "substantial privacy interest" in keeping them hidden.
