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Justice Department didn't read U.S. attorney resignation letters they refused to release
Justice Department didn't read U.S. attorney resignation letters they refused to release
Adam Silverman, Burlington (Vt.) Free Press 7:54 p.m. ET May 31, 2017
BURLINGTON, Vt. — The Justice Department decided to keep secret on privacy grounds the resignation letters from nearly 50 U.S. attorneys ousted by the Trump administration without first reading any of the letters, public records show.
Justice Department lawyers in March denied a Burlington Free Press request under the federal Freedom of Information Act for copies of the letters, on grounds that the information in the documents was so "inherently personal" that they should be exempt from release.
....
Open-government advocates took issue with the Justice Department's initial refusal — and even more so with the agency's refusal to read the documents in question.
"Wow," said Alex Howard, deputy director of the Sunlight Foundation. ... "This is about whether some of the most powerful people in our justice system are continuing to serve or not, and communicating their rationale for that," said Howard, whose Washington-based non-partisan organization presses for government transparency. ... "These are not spies coming in from the cold. These are not people who have been subject to targeted harassment or are being prosecuted for illegal actions," he added. "They're U.S. attorneys resigning from office, and the circumstances of that should be known to the public."
Adam Silverman, Burlington (Vt.) Free Press 7:54 p.m. ET May 31, 2017
BURLINGTON, Vt. — The Justice Department decided to keep secret on privacy grounds the resignation letters from nearly 50 U.S. attorneys ousted by the Trump administration without first reading any of the letters, public records show.
Justice Department lawyers in March denied a Burlington Free Press request under the federal Freedom of Information Act for copies of the letters, on grounds that the information in the documents was so "inherently personal" that they should be exempt from release.
....
Open-government advocates took issue with the Justice Department's initial refusal — and even more so with the agency's refusal to read the documents in question.
"Wow," said Alex Howard, deputy director of the Sunlight Foundation. ... "This is about whether some of the most powerful people in our justice system are continuing to serve or not, and communicating their rationale for that," said Howard, whose Washington-based non-partisan organization presses for government transparency. ... "These are not spies coming in from the cold. These are not people who have been subject to targeted harassment or are being prosecuted for illegal actions," he added. "They're U.S. attorneys resigning from office, and the circumstances of that should be known to the public."
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