Posted on 09/25/2014 9:14:32 AM PDT by jazusamo
Full title: Federal Court Denies DOJ Motion for Delay, Orders Release of Fast and Furious Documents List to Judicial Watch by October 22
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that on September 23, 2014, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that by October 22, the Department of Justice (DOJ) must submit a “Vaughn index” listing Fast and Furious materials Judicial Watch sought in its June 2012 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and subsequent September 2012 FOIA lawsuit ( Judicial Watch v. Department of Justice (No. 1:12-cv-01510)). 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.
On July 18, Bates ordered the Department of Justice to produce the documents list by October 1. The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates denied a motion by the Obama DOJ that it be given until over an extra month, until November 3, to produce the Vaughn index. Judge Bates noted that the Justice Department’s request showed the Justice Department was, “at best, it means the Department has been slow to react to this Court’s previous [July 18, 2014] Order. At worst, it means the Department has ignored that Order until now.”
In its FOIA lawsuit, Judicial Watch sought all of the documents the Obama White House was withholding from the House of Representatives under its June 20, 2012, executive privilege claims. The House had been separately litigating to obtain the documents but had gotten nowhere until after Judge Bates ruled that the DOJ finally had to disclose the document information to Judicial Watch. On September 9, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, citing Judicial Watch’s success, ordered the DOJ to begin producing information to Congress by November 3.
In denying the DOJ’s motion for an extension until the day before the November elections, Bates ruled, “The government’s argument for even more time is unconvincing,” and granted the government just 21 additional days to produce the Vaughn index to Judicial Watch.
Judge Bates cites three reasons for denying the Justice Department’s request and gave the agency until October 22 to produce the information – “and no further”:
The Department first points to Judge [Amy Berman] Jackson’s November 3 deadline in House Committee [lawsuit for DOJ Fast and Furious documents] … But this misreads Judge Jackson’s opinion. As that court reasoned, ‘[s]ince the deadline in Judicial Watch was set first, it makes sense for defendant to complete that effort and then turn his attention to the list that is due in this case’ … This rationale counsels against dramatically shifting the goalposts in this case.
The government argues next that the sheer volume of documents involved in this case requires additional time to produce a Vaughn index, and it relies on the declaration testimony of Allison Stanton, a Director of E-Discovery at the Department of Justice, to substantiate this claim … She produced her declaration as part of the House Committee case, and her testimony describes the Department’s difficulties in responding to the order in that case … Nowhere does Stanton mention the present FOIA litigation or this case’s (much less onerous) Vaughn index requirement.
Finally, the government argues that it must devote significant numbers of attorneys to this matter if it hopes to comply with the current Vaughn index deadline … But the Department has known about its Vaughn index obligations since July 18, 2014 … At best, it means the Department has been slow to react to this Court’s previous Order. At worst, it means the Department has ignored that Order until now.
Judge Bates ruled:
[S]eventy-five days—plus another twenty-one, based in part on Judicial Watch’s consent—is enough time for the government to prepare the index that this Court has ordered, given that this matter has been pending for over two years. The Court will therefore extend the Department’s Vaughn index submission deadline to October 22, 2014—and no further.
“The Obama administration failed to game the courts and now will have to account for its Fast and Furious lies. Two federal courts have now rejected Eric Holder’s election-related ploy to keep this information from the American people,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “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 the face of all this lawlessness. This latest court ruling shows again that Judicial Watch’s independent investigations and lawsuits are more effective than Congress and the rest of the media. We are pleased we may get some accountability for Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and hundreds of others who lost their lives as a result of Obama’s Fast and Furious program.”
Operation Fast and Furious was a Justice Department/Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) “ gun-running” operation in which the Obama administration allowed guns to go to Mexican drug cartels in hopes that they would end up at crime scenes, thereby advancing gun-control policies. Fast and Furious weapons have been implicated in the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and hundreds of other innocents in Mexico. Guns from the Fast and Furious scandal are expected to be used in criminal activity for years to come.
Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt by the House of Representatives over his refusal to turn over documents about why the Obama administration may have lied to Congress and refused for months to disclose the truth about the gun-running operation. It marked the first time in U.S. history a sitting Attorney General was held in contempt of Congress.
On June 20, 2012, the eve of the contempt citation, President Obama stepped in and invoked “executive privilege” over the Fast and Furious documents the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee had subpoenaed eight months earlier. This invocation, besides ensuring no disclosures would be made before President Obama’s reelection, also had the effect of protecting Holder from being prosecuted for contempt, because it is the “practice” of the DOJ to not prosecute contempt of Congress charges if the documents in dispute are being withheld pursuant to executive privilege claims.
Judicial Watch filed its FOIA request for the “executive privilege” documents just two days after President Obama made his unprecedented assertion of this presidential privilege. When the DOJ denied that request, Judicial Watch filed a FOIA lawsuit on September 12, 2012. On February 15, 2013, Judge Bates stayed the Judicial Watch lawsuit, in part to allow ongoing settlement discussions between the Justice DOJ and the House Committee to continue. But on July 18, 2014, after a 16-month delay, Judge Bates ordered the DOJ to turn over to Judicial Watch a “Vaughn index” of all Fast and Furious materials by October 1 (the date, under this week’s court ruling, is now October 22).
Judicial Watch has filed several other FOIA lawsuits to obtain Fast and Furious scandal:
Eric Holder’s departure was the first thing that came to my mind.
Fast & Furious was a criminal operation that resulted in the murders of hundreds of Mexicans and at least two border agents, iirc. It was not coordinated with the Mexican government because they were appalled. It’s probably why we can’t get SGT Tahmoorisi released from prison.
Holder purposefully put weaponry in the hands of cartel murderers just so they could point at US gun shops and say it was their fault.
Justice delayed is justice denied...
3 friggin’ years????
Absolutely, Holder had to know everything about it and I’d say he must have been the one to approve it.
He is deserves to spend his retirement in a federal prison.
Under pressure the administration will finally release the requested documents but they will be almost totally blacked out.
Then we go to Round 2 which will take another 5 years to work its way through the courts.
I have no use for Holder or anyone who works for Obama for over a few months. Even flag officers in the military have sold their souls and this nation down the drain for power. Holder has perhaps the biggest job of anyone in this admin. Keeping all of them out of jail. That requires delay, delay, lie, lie, test and retest the patience and even wrath of judge after judge. There is not one honest person working for this admin IMHO.
I would try him for the deaths that resulted from that evil plan. If Mexico had a death penalty, I’d let them try him.
Holder packs bags heads for Rio in privet jet that go off radar can’t be found................
If anything the courts decide is typed up on a computer, the regime knows it as it is being typed. Mark my words.
He’s slippery, and this administration burns its documents before it leaves.
They do. It is called residency.
So Judge Bates is 67 years old, he could be dead very soon, of natural causes of course.
This is the case that should have Obama impeached and he and Eric in prison.
It says the ruling was 9/23? Is it kept secret after that? I don’t know, just asking.
Put him in a jail cell with a 350 pound convict named Frito.
you beat me to it - court rules against Holder’s delays, Holder resigns before the public & Congress gets its hands on all the documents - so O can nominate someone before nxt January
I don’t know why the 5th is allowed to apply to Lerner, Holder , or anybody else with respect to their official business. It doesn’t and they ought to be jailed for even trying. In a former life I did the occasional audit related to nuclear stuff. NOBODY had the right to refuse to talk to me. NOBODY. Even responding to one of my questions slowly could get your last check handed to you next Monday. It seems our geniuses in Congress just haven’t read the rule book or grown enough hair to make the team.
I love it! I’d wager the Mexicans would love to get their hands on him.
Thanks Jazusamo. Maybe we can trade Holder for Sgt.Tahmooressi!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.