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Earlier this month, District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered that the document be made public and accused Barr and Justice Department lawyers of making misrepresentations about why it should be kept secret. In retrospect, the government acknowledges that its briefs could have been clearer, and it deeply regrets the confusion that caused, the DOJ said in a court filing asking Jackson to stay her decision while the government appeals.
But, the DOJ argued, that imprecision in its characterization of the decisional process did not warrant the conclusion that the full document should be released.
Jackson s decision stems from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed in 2019 by the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which sought internal DOJ documents supporting Barr s conclusion that Trump s conduct during the Mueller investigation did not amount to obstruction of justice.
CREW filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in 2019 for internal DOJ documents that Barr had relied on in reaching the conclusion that the evidence supplied by the special counsel s office did not show that Trump had committed obstruction of justice.
The department fought in court to prevent the release of the 2019 memo, arguing that it was protected under exceptions to FOIA for documents involving attorney-client privilege or that were used as part of a deliberative decision-making process.
Jackson rejected those arguments earlier this month and ordered that the document be released in its entirety. In her May 3 decision, a fully unredacted version of which was released Tuesday, she said that the memo was formulated with the goal of providing advice on public relations strategy in response to the Mueller report, undercutting the government s position that it was privileged.
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ADVERTISEMENT In that light, and in order to help rebuild the nation’s trust in DOJ’s independence after four years of turmoil, we urge DOJ not to appeal D.C. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s May 3 decision to order the release of this OLC memo, they wrote.
The group of Democrats was led by Sen. Dick Durbin
Jackson s decision came in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed in 2019 by the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which sought internal DOJ documents that Barr cited to determine that Trump s conduct during his early days as president did not amount to obstruction of justice.