Eric Holder's Department Of Dodging, Diversion, Delay and Injustice...

The Justice Department has requested that an order by a U.S. District Court Judge for the DOJ to produce by October 1st, "all non-deliberative documents or non-deliberative portions of documents over which Executive Privilege has been claimed" in the "Fast and Furious case" be stayed or delayed until December 15, 2014.

"Fast and Furious" is the Department of Justice's failed program that was purportedly implemented to track weapons provided to Mexican cartels, which resulted in an unknown quantity of weapons released to cartel criminals, which then resulted in  hundreds of deaths of Mexican citizens and at least one American official at the hands of drug cartel operatives that used the weapons to commit crimes.

After details of the program came to light from a Congressional Investigation and from testimony before a Congressional Committee, investigators began to push for disclosure of documents to determine accountability for the failed program and the subsequent catastrophic results of that program, but got nowhere, as administration officials repeatedly stonewalled Congress to prevent disclosure.

Attorney General Eric Holder in conjunction with the Obama administration then invoked "executive privilege" to avoid the disclosure of ostensibly sensitive documents.

Executive Privilege "...is the power claimed by the President of the United States and other members of the executive branch to resist certain subpoenas and other interventions by the legislative and judicial branches of government to access information and personnel relating to the executive branch...Once invoked, a presumption of privilege is established, requiring the Prosecutor to make a 'sufficient showing' that the 'Presidential material' is 'essential to the justice of the case' ... executive privilege would most effectively apply when the oversight of the executive would impair that branch's national security concerns..." (source: Wikipedia - Executive Privilege)

The "Fast and Furious" case wound up in court, in part, after a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit was filed by the government watch-dog group, Judicial Watch, which sought to obtain all documents that were being withheld by the Obama Administration under the claims of Executive Privilege.

Judicial Watch filed the suit after repeated attempts to obtain documents regarding "Fast and Furious" under the Freedom of Information Act, were ignored or refused by the administration.

That suit was delayed for over a year when the Department of Justice argued for an extensive delay under claims that the Judicial Watch lawsuit interfered with the DOJ's pending legal case with the House Oversight Committee, which was being litigated with regard to the same or similar documents relating to the government's failed "Fast and Furious" gun running/tracking operation.

The court disagreed and ordered the documents released and demanded a "Vaughn Index" from the DOJ.

According to Judicial Watch, 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..."

However, yesterday, the DOJ filed a motion for "a partial stay of, and partial relief from" the court's order to present the documents in question.

Supplying to the court an accompanying "Memorandum of Points and Authorities" the DOJ's appeal:

"...moves the Court to stay, during pendency of the district court litigation, that part of its Order of August 20, 2014, that requires defendant to produce to plaintiff by October 1, 2014, all non-deliberative documents or non-deliberative portions of documents over which Executive Privilege had been claimed; to extend until December 15, 2014, the deadline by which defendant must provide a detailed list identifying all deliberative documents or deliberative portions of documents it will continue to withhold under Executive Privilege; and to modify the Court's Order so that defendant not be required to 'specify'  on its detailed list 'the decision that the deliberations contained in the document precede..."

The DOJ presents the case in its accompanying memorandum and details the reasons it is asking for a stay, or at least a delay of the court order until a later date.  The DOJ, among its list of arguments, includes that necessary redactions need to be made to avoid revealing sensitive personal, identifying and and law enforcement related information.

But one is hard pressed to consider these appeals in light of the numerous and extensive dodges and extensions of the DOJ with regard to providing the documents required relating to Fast and Furious. Again and again the DOJ has continued its tactics of diversion and delay to avoid compliance with Congressional and Court mandates. Today the DOJ requires more time to redact, when they have had years to prepare in case the inevitable event of disclosure would one day arrive.

That day is here, and yet they continue to stall, and it prompted House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrel Issa to state:

"...Even after a judge issues an order, this Administration continues to pursue a strategy of delay and obstruction against Constitutionally mandated oversight and the principle of transparency...Reckless conduct in a Justice Department operation contributed to the deaths of a Border Patrol agent and countless Mexican citizens, but this Administration continues to fight making a full account of what it knew and when it knew it – not to mention why and how it came to make false statements to Congress about its conduct.  The House of Representatives will vigorously oppose this new effort by the Justice Department to stay a judge’s order and its threat to delay the proceeding with piecemeal appeals if the request is not granted...”

In fact, in an unprecedented, crass and apparent disdain for the Court the DOJ threatened with a claim, asserting that the Court's order was an "injunctive order," that it could immediately appeal its case, and then arrogantly tells the court what it should do, stating: "...The Court should stay its Order requiring the disclosure of records during the pendency of this case to avoid the possibility of piecemeal appeals to the D.C. Circuit, and to allow for the orderly and efficient resolution of the issues that remain before this Court..."

In short, the DOJ threatens further delays via legal maneuvering and extensive legal filings to continue to stonewall to refuse to provide accountability and to effect the very purpose explicit in the Department's name:  JUSTICE.