A federal judge ruled on Thursday, June 19, that the Justice Department may hand redacted recordings of former President Joe Biden‘s conversations with his biographer to the Heritage Foundation, rejecting Biden’s request for an indefinite order blocking the disclosure.

US District Judge Dabney Friedrich issued the decision in Washington, finding that the public interest in the recordings outweighed Biden’s privacy arguments. She ordered redactions to protect certain personal information but said the remainder of the audio and transcripts could be released to the conservative advocacy group.

Biden’s legal team immediately alerted the court that they intend to appeal the ruling to a higher court. The appeal will temporarily stay the release while the challenge is heard. Biden’s lawyers had sought to block all disclosure, arguing the recordings were made in a private context and their release would violate his privacy rights.

The recordings were made in 2016 and 2017 during sessions with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer, who was helping Biden write his memoir. They became the subject of intense legal and political scrutiny after special counsel Robert Hur’s 2024 report cited them as evidence of Biden’s “diminished” mental faculties. The Heritage Foundation and congressional Republicans have pressed for full access ever since.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said earlier this month that the DOJ was “not moving forward” with releasing the recordings, but the court’s ruling on Thursday overrides that position and clears the path for disclosure, subject to the appeal. The DOJ’s earlier reluctance to formally commit to abandoning the release drew its own separate legal dispute with a different judge this week.

The case intersects with broader debates about presidential privacy, the Freedom of Information Act, and the use of special counsel investigations as political instruments. Trump’s polling numbers continue to face challenges even as his administration pursues legal actions tied to the previous administration. His foreign policy week has also been turbulent.

Judge Friedrich acknowledged in her ruling that the recordings contain private information and that the redactions she ordered are “substantial.” She said what remains after redaction is of high public interest and that the court found no legal basis to withhold it from a party that had properly requested it.

Biden has not made a personal public statement about the ruling. His legal team has not elaborated on the grounds for the planned appeal beyond the initial court notice. The appeal timeline is not yet confirmed. The full ruling is available through federal court records. The case is expected to continue through summer 2026.