A dispute over executive privilege appears to be looming in connection with fired Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod’s lawsuit against late conservative journalist Andrew Breitbart. In a letter filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington, a lawyer involved in the case said the Justice Department had advised that it will assert executive privilege to block disclosure of information subpoenaed in the case from USDA and the White House. “[T]he Government confirmed this week that it intends to assert ‘executive privilege’ and ‘deliberative process privilege’ objections as purported grounds for withholding at least some documents and information from both the USDA and the EOP [Executive Office of the President],” wrote Mark Bailen, an attorney for Breitbart employee Larry O’Connor. However, a Justice Department spokesperson said Thursday afternoon that the government had not reached any conclusions about how to respond to subpoenas served in connection with the case. “Contrary to what the letter asserts, the department has not made any decisions about what privileges to assert in this ongoing matter,” the spokesperson said. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon said at a status hearing on the lawsuit last month that he was fearful that a White House privilege assertion might bog down the case. Read more>patdollard/2014/01/obama-pulls-executive-privelege-on-breitbart-lawyers-to-hide-truth-in-sherrod-lawsuit/
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 10:45:52 +0000
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