Posted on 07/31/2014 2:53:37 PM PDT by Kaslin
Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act Lawsuit pursued against the Department of Justice by government watchdog Judicial Watch, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ruled documents being withheld from Congress under President Obama's claim of executive privilege must be turned over. Obama made the claim on the same day Attorney General Eric Holder was voted in criminal and civil contempt of Congress in June 2012.
"This order forces the Obama DOJ, for the first time, to provide a detailed listing of all documents that it has withheld from Congress and the American people for years about the deadly Fast and Furious gun running scandal," Judicial Watch released in a statement.
The FOIA lawsuit has been ongoing for 16-months and is now proceeding after a lengthy delay. The Justice Department originally asked the court for an indefinite hold on a FOIA request from Judicial Watch, citing executive privilege and an ongoing investigation. That indefinite hold request was shot down more than a year ago.
The documentation DOJ is required to now turn over is a "Vaughn index" of "all requested Fast and Furious materials from a June 2012 Judicial Watch FOIA request."
A Vaughn index must: (1) identify each document withheld; (2) state the statutory exemption claimed; and (3) explain how disclosure would damage the interests protected by the claimed exemption." In ordering the DOJ to provide Judicial Watch the Vaughn index, the Court ruled, “In this circuit, when an agency is withholding documents under exemption claims, courts require that the agency provide a Vaughn index so that the FOIA requester – at a distinct informational disadvantage – may test the agency’s claims.”
“Once again, Judicial Watch has beat Congress to the punch in getting key information about another Obama scandal – this time, the Fast and Furious outrage,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. “A federal court has ordered the Obama administration to produce information that could, for the first time, provide specific details who in the administration is responsible for Fast and Furious lies to Congress and the American people. This is a battle that put Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, saw Nixonian assertions of executive privilege by Barack Obama, and a hapless Congress in face of all this lawlessness. Finally, we may get some accountability for Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and the countless others murdered as a result of the insanely reckless Obama administration program.”
This is a huge step forward.
Perhaps FReepers should donate to FR & JW! http://www.judicialwatch.org/
Obama, Holder, Jeh Johnson.. The 3 black amigos and their all-out assault on America continues.
Yes! But no matter what they do the progressives will try to steer opinion against them.
Sometimes the pols just have to spend some political capital to do the right thing. We should elect folks who will do their jobs.
The dems pushed Obamacare through with no disregard for public opinion. They lost the house. But the law is in place, right?
Fast & Furious is one of the truly criminal acts that definitely fall under the heading of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ that if PROVEN to trace to Obama would be an impeachable act.
They intentionally gave guns to killers with the intent that the killers kill. That is a crime anyplace, anytime.
The hits just keep on coming for these clowns.
The stone wall dam is bursting on the Obama Administration and all of its suppressed bad news is coming out all at the same time.
All at a time when Obama is already only about 10 points below impeachment in the opinion polls
Holder’s trying to make Chicago Street gangs feel proud...
Agreed.
There have been so many Obama scandals, I had forgotten all about Fast & Furious!
Holder has two years in which to comply? 9sarc)
You and I and everyone who's ever posted or even been to this website will be in orange jumpsuits or a FEMA camp long before these bozos ever even become concerned that they might someday face anything that looks like justice.
Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries!
CC
Who'da thunk? Not me... JW used to be useless.
Any Congressman could have done the exact same thing a Judicial Watch has done. Why would you think they couldn’t?
They’ve had months to shred documents and run magnetic media through bulk erasers. The Dog Ate My Homework ping. Still, this is a daunting defeat for the criminal gang of thugs.
for me -— in HELL
1. We find out that the perps are lying to Congress. Or at least their statements are misleading.
2. There is indeed more information to be had. Democrats eagerly want to call game-over once the hearings are done and after the IRS, Holder, etc. and their ilk have obstructed and withheld information.
Who knows, maybe it is just part of the natural evolution of any nation. We are in the complacency and apathetic phase which allows our leaders, many of them scoundrels, to go unchecked.
Now let them enforce it.
Good blast from the American past.
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