From In re Murphy, decided yesterday by the Fifth Circuit (Judges Edith Brown Clement, Leslie Southwick, and Stephen Higginson):
In May 2022, the States of Missouri and Louisiana, along with five individuals, sued various federal officials and departments in federal district court in Louisiana. The suit alleges the defendants are infringing the First Amendment by coercing social media platforms to censor speech.
In June 2022, the plaintiffs moved for a preliminary injunction and for expedited discovery for the injunctive relief. The district court granted expedited discovery. As relevant here, that discovery included interrogatory responses from the White House Office of the Press Secretary….
[A] party seeking the deposition of a high-ranking executive official must show that "extraordinary circumstances" exist. We agree with other circuits that such a showing is equally applicable to former officials, lest they be ensnared in unnecessary discovery upon leaving office. The district court found, and the plaintiffs do not dispute, that Psaki is high-ranking. Indeed, as a former Assistant to the President, Psaki was one of those in the most senior rank in the White House other than Chief of Staff.
