Sunday, February 21, 2016

DC Circuit Court Reverses Decision to Seal Records of Criminal Fast and Furious Operation

The DC Circuit court has reversed a decision that would have kept certain records sealed about Operation Fast and Furious.

Government Watchdog Group Judicial Watch sued the DOJ after Congress found then Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt and after District Judge Amy Jackson ordered the Justice Department to provide certaindocuments.
The Hill reported:
A federal judge on Tuesday ruled President Obama cannot use executive privilege to keep records on the “Fast and Furious” gun-tracking program from Congress.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered the administration to release documents that it has been attempting to withhold by asserting executive privilege.
The ruling also requires the administration to release to Congress all “segregable portions” of records they are withholding that are considered “attorney-client privileged material, attorney work product, private information, law enforcement sensitive material, or foreign policy sensitive material.”
“The Department itself has already publicly revealed the sum and substance of the very material it is now seeking to withhold. Since any harm that would flow from the disclosures sought here would be merely incremental, the records must be produced,” Jackson wrote, referencing a report from the DOJ’s Office of Inspector General regarding Operation Fast and Furious.
Now, US District Judge Richard Leon, though saying the evidence led him to grant a ruling in the DOJ’s favor, instead reversed the decision on February 12.

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