Posted on 10/09/2014 9:34:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told a federal court that it may have lost the text messages at the center of a lawsuit by a libertarian think tank.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) sued the EPA last year in federal court to compel the release of text messages to and from Administrator Gina McCarthy and her predecessor under the Freedom of Information Act.
In the Tuesday filing to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Justice Department lawyers representing the EPA said the agency will soon file a notice that it may have misplaced records that it was legally required to retain. “Defendant has decided to formally notify the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) about the potential loss of federal records relating to text messages,” the lawyers told the court.
Once it files that notice the CEI’s claim will become moot, since the records do not exist, the agency said. Lawyers will ask the court for a hearing to dismiss the case.
Despite the filing, EPA spokeswoman Liz Purchia said the agency maintains that the text messages neither had to be preserved nor were subject to disclosure. Text messages can legally be deleted, she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Lost the text messages. Who would have thought it?
Bet they could find my text to Great Aunt Gertie asking for her secret biscuit recipe.
We have had lawbreakers in high office before, but the level of flagrant lawlessness in these six terrible years is unmatched in our country’s history. Clinton and Nixon both broke laws for specific reasons of self interest, but it’s only under the druggie from Chicago that it’s so open and widespread. I miss the rule of law.
Couldn’t the Enterprise Inst. then ask the court to deem as admitted what it alleges were in the ‘lost’ text messages? Or demand depositions of the parties to admit or deny the general information that would have been contained in those messages? This losing of emails and txts sounds like mafia tactics, and unacceptable for the U.S. government.
Does gov’t use the same ‘guys’ between departments? (I know, what am *I* thinking...consolidation, cntrl mgmt and low cost; it NEVER even occurred as a brief thought)
Oh, well. Another dog and pony show by Issa and the gang; nobody help accountable, nobody fired let alone jailed....
Of course, that won't happen because the EPA and the courts are parts of the same entity.
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government,
Exactly, this Clintonian “I don’t remember” tactic is going to get worse until the government starts losing cases outright.
In a real court, failure to produced subpoenaed documents would result in a default judgement against the non-producer of the subpoenaed documents.
Hey, it worked for the IRS!
The criminals in the EPA would be foolish to comply with the rule of law if there are no actual consequences for defiance and obfuscation.
Just defund the agency and roll back all policies to 2008.
Of course. That is S.O.P.
ALL criminals are prone to lying. Psychopaths and communists lie when they don’t need to. We have had two psychopath presidents in the last three.
“We have had lawbreakers in high office before, but the level of flagrant lawlessness in these six terrible years is unmatched in our country’s history.”
And the Sheeple just don’t give a damn....
As long as the EBT cards keep working, and the Daily Show and Late-Night Comics refuse to cover it, they will continue not to care.
How does anyone lose text messages?
The CARRIER has them!
Another federal agency that’s lying to us.
“but the level of flagrant lawlessness in these six terrible years is unmatched in our country’s history”
To add insult to injury, they are self righteous about it in their ideological purity.
Fixed it.
But if the IRS audits you and you claim to have lost some documentation, its sayonara for you charlie. It is past time to reinstate that most sacred principle that the law is king and the king/government is under the law.
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