Court denies DOJ request to keep Fast and Furious list hidden…Two days later, Holder heads for the door

Just two days before NPR reported that Attorney General Eric Holder will resign from his job, a U.S. District Judge denied a request by Holder’s Department of Justice to keep secret a listing of documents sought by plaintiffs in a lawsuit over the Operation Fast and Furious (OFF) scandal.

Judicial Watch, which is suing to obtain OFF-related documents the DOJ has refused to release in spite of a 2012 Freedom of Information Act request for the information, touted the ruling on its website, quoting U.S. District Judge John D. Bates, who appeared unconvinced by the DOJ’s argument that it needed more time to produce the OFF list:

“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.”

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