Appeals Court Rejects Biden's Bid to Block Release of Ghostwriter Interview Recordings; Biden Later Drops Lawsuit

A federal appeals court on July 20-21, 2026 rejected former President Joe Biden's attempt to block the Justice Department from releasing audio recordings and transcripts of interviews he gave to a ghostwriter for his memoir before he became president. Days later, on July 24, Biden dropped the lawsuit he had filed seeking to prevent the material's release. The recordings and transcripts were sought under a records request, with CBS News identifying the requester as a conservative think tank; the Justice Department had indicated it would provide redacted versions of the material. The appeals panel ruled 2-1, finding, according to NBC News, that there is a "substantial" public interest in disclosing the material Biden sought to keep confidential. Biden disagreed with the ruling, according to PBS NewsHour, though the specific legal grounds he cited were not detailed across multiple sources. Following the appellate ruling, Biden withdrew his lawsuit rather than continue pursuing further legal challenges, according to ABC News. It remains unresolved whether the Justice Department has since released the recordings and transcripts, what redactions were ultimately applied, and what specific content the interviews contain. The precise timeline connecting the appellate loss to Biden's decision to abandon the litigation, as well as any further appeals he considered, was not fully detailed in the available reporting.