It all sounded like a partisan but relatively weak move. But there were still questions: Did we know the whole story? What would Executive Order 14019 actually do? Yes, the order was filled with platitudes, but what concrete actions would result? Republicans had reason to be suspicious, in part because the voting measure fit into a pattern: Democrats, frustrated by their inability to pass top priorities in Congress, turned to executive authority to do as much as they could without the bothersome process of legislating.
Biden's executive order directed the heads of all federal agencies to send the White House “a strategic plan outlining the ways identified under this review that the agency can promote voter registration and voter participation.” That could mean anything, especially when one considers that it would be devised and enforced by Democrats angry that they were not able to win passage of their voting scheme on Capitol Hill. The public needed to know what was going on. After all, there is no public concern more important than the issue of elections and voting.
On July 30, 2021, a conservative but nonpartisan think tank called the Foundation for Government Accountability sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the Justice Department asking for documents showing how the department is complying with Biden's order. The foundation was particularly interested in the specific plan the department came up with — what was the DOJ actually going to do to implement the president's wishes? “Please provide your agency's strategic plan developed pursuant to President Biden Executive Order 14019 … outlining ways you identified for your agency to promote voter registration and voter participation,” the request said.
The Justice Department's answer was…nothing. A year passed, and the Justice Department did not turn over a single document. So the foundation went to court, and as a result, a federal judge ordered the Justice Department to turn over the material. The judge set a deadline of Sept. 8, 2022. The Justice Department waited until the last day and turned over…next to nothing. It sent a batch of emails and a few documents that turned out mostly to be staffers corresponding with each other over who would be present at which meeting.