U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson denied the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the House of Representatives’ lawsuit concerning administration documents related to the Operation Fast and Furious scandal. Judge Jackson said federal courts are entitled to determine whether the Obama administration is wrongfully withholding documents.
The President asserted executive privilege over these subpoenaed documents on June 20th 2012.
“This ruling is a repudiation of the Obama Justice Department and Congressional Democrats who argued the courts should have no role in the dispute over President Obama’s improper assertion of executive privilege to protect an attempted Justice Department cover-up of Operation Fast and Furious,” said Chairman Issa. “I remain confident in the merits of the House’s decision to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt; this ruling is an important step toward the transparency and accountability the Obama Administration has refused to provide.”
Jackson found that political issues are legally irrelevant and do not deprive the Court of its role in deciding who is right.
“Supreme Court precedent establishes that the third branch has an equally fundamental role to play, and that judges not only may, but sometimes must, exercise their responsibility to interpret the Constitution and determine whether another branch has exceeded its power,’’ Jackson wrote.
The judge still has to decide whether the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will receive the documents from the administration he wants. Jackson found, “This opinion does not grapple with the scope of the president’s privilege, it simply rejects the notion that it is an unreviewable privilege when asserted in response to a legislative demand.”