A federal judge rejected a request by the Justice Department that he delay the proceedings in the House Oversight Committee’s census subpoena lawsuit until an appeals court decides the separate Don McGahn subpoena case.
It’s not clear how any of this could be covered by executive privilege…the Census shouldn’t be done in secret in any way, and none of these people should have been talking with the president about the Census since the president doesn’t get to decide how it is run. And, of course, these people withheld documents that clearly show some kind of interaction with Republicans meant to limit the Census in order to help Republicans stay in power…that kind of political maneuvering over government functions has no right to be covered by privilege or kept secret.
Republicans keep showing that they have no interest in the freedoms of Americans to vote for the politicians they want, unless those votes are for a Republican. They really are all in on taking over the nation, whether the rest of us agree with their policies or not. It’s the opposite of the principles the nation was founded on…hopefully enough Americans understand this to vote in 2020 and get them out of office.
Courts may be getting tired of being the obstacles the players are hiding behind in this game of TAG your it.
In a free country, information about citizens is protected by law. Information about the government is open to the public.
In a police state, information about the government is secret and he citizen’s lives are open books.
Such total information inversion is necessary to facilitate the crimes of government and to prevent those crimes from becoming public knowledge
As summed up by Al Gore
"By closely guarding information about their own behavior, they are dismantling a fundamental element of our system of checks and balances. Because so long as the government’s actions are secret, they cannot be held accountable. A government for the people and by the people must be transparent to the people. "
Judge Moss is making the DOJ lawyers do their jobs and get on with the case in a timely manner. Good for him.
Petty of me though it may be, I hope they have to work over the holidays.
Give em them the extension, but hold them in contempt. They can report to the local jail after work every day until they complete the request.
That should get them to finish up faster.
Moss was head of Obama’s OLC in the white house. He is rock solid. I am expecting him to push this quickly. He knows that what DOJ is doing is not legal and undermines the rule of law. Expect him to put more and more pressure on DOJ.
He will hold a hearing on January 30, and to the extent that DOJ can’t support it’s privlage claims, my expectation is that he will find that they have waived them, and order everything produced.
The case could lead to a landmark decision on executive privilege, an issue on which, Moss noted, there’s “not a lot of judicial guidance,” despite several internal DOJ memos on the topic.
I’m sure Toadglans’ personal attorney B-Bill disBarr would be more than happy to issue some guidance.
The Justice Department on Friday struggled to answer Moss’ question on whether it was still operating under a Reagan-era OLC memo within the context of this case.
Bugs Bunny: Is you is, or is you ain’t my baby?
Elmer Fudd: I hate wittle gway wabbits, uh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh!
I hope so. The legal profession really hasn’t done America any favors in a long time – it has been a tool the powerful use to deny justice to victims.
It would be nice if all these supposedly learned people would finally wake up to the mortal danger that Trump and the Federalists pose to them.
They’re also welcome to continue shuffling the deck chairs around, if that’s all they can be bothered to do.
Unitary executive privilege. The entire executive branch is Trump, from top to bottom, so it’s all privileged.
That’s the substance of their claim, anyway.
As the judge noted, they have had ample time to do their homework.
I hope they get snowed in at their office. Fuck 'em!
I might phrase it that the “unitary executive” theory is floating out there, but is not being evolked clearly. What happened was that Congress asked for materials, DOJ slow walked the negotiations, claiming executive privileged. But they never evolked it, which has to be done document by document. Congress did not want to play rope-a-dope and moved to hold in contempt. At which point DOJ stopped negotiation.
DOJ just told the judge that they have not reviewed the materials in question, and as the judge knows therefore has no good faith belief that a claim of privedge can be asserted. And that DOJ just stopped negotating weakened DOJ’s arguement. There is case law saying “let them work it out” (specifically in a DC Court of Appeals Opinion) but that is predicated on the possiblity of them making progress.
What I think will happen here is that the judge will rule that DOJ made negotiations impossible, so court intervention is required, DOJ’s blanket claims are invalid, particuarly since DOJ did not do a document by document review, and that having failed to do the document by document review, that DOJ acted in bad faith and has waived it’s right to do so, and must produce the documents.
Well said and quite true!
Yes! Their recalcitrance now makes the court’s job easier in saying they must and quickly provide said docs or else. Love how the Trumpy team keeps shooting themsleves in the balls!
“”…the jurisdictional questions (i.e. whether the court has the authority to decide the dispute in the first place.)""
As soon as a case is brought to the court, the court has the authority to render a decision in the dispute.
This case is an example of the ‘checks and balances’ set up by the Constitution. The Legislative (House) and the Executive branches are at an impasse. There must be a decider to determine the course of action to follow. And it must not linger. Government needs to move in order to accomplish things. Gridlock is fatal.
That’s a lot kinder than my wishes for them at this point.