Request for federal documents blocked by district court judge

October 17, 2011

Washington D.C.: On Friday, October 14, Judge Ellen Huvelle, of the District of Columbia District Court, blocked a request made by two conservative special interest groups, Judicial Watch and Media Research Center, that the Department of Justice turn over federal documents pertaining to Justice Elena Kagan's role in passing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The groups sued the federal government after the Justice Department turned over some documents following a Freedom of Information Act request, but withheld others. Judicial Watch and Media Research Center have argued that the undisclosed material would include details to senior Justice Department meetings Kagan may have attended where legal strategy related to the healthcare bill could have been discussed. Judge Huvelle disagreed, concluding that the government did not need to turn over further documents, saying, the "Plaintiffs' argument, that the topics within the FOIA request must have been discussed at these meetings and that records related to this must have existed, is simply conjecture and is therefore insufficient to justify a finding that the search was inadequate."