SEC attorneys, for their part, have claimed that these documents contain staffer deliberations, and therefore are protected against discovery. District Judge Sarah Netburn, of the Southern District of New York, ruled that some of these documents are indeed protected, but ordered the regulator to turn over others, including an email with Hinman’s speech and some notes from meetings between SEC staffers and third parties that are not Ripple.
Source: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/01/14/sec-must-surrender-hinman-email-on-ether-to-ripple-judge-rules/