JURIST - Paper Chase: Democrats take Justice Department to court over US Attorney firing FOIA request

[JURIST] The Democratic National Committee (DNC) [party website] filed a federal lawsuit [complaint, PDF] against the US Department of Justice [official website] Thursday, seeking the disclosure and release of DOJ records in accordance with the DNC's March 19, 2007 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request [PDF text] involving the controversial firing of eight US attorneys [JURIST news archive]. The complaint alleges that the DOJ has failed to respond to the Freedom of Information Act [DOJ materials] request within the twenty working days, as required under the act, and has also failed to provide the DNC "any written notice of any extension of that time limit."

Last Tuesday, a White House spokesperson said that several emails that fall within the Senate Judiciary Committee's document requests appear to be lost [ABC report]. At least 21 White House staffers used email accounts provided by the Republican National Committee (RNC) [party website] to avoid liability under the Hatch Act [backgrounder], which prohibits the use of government resources for political purposes. Other laws, however, prohibit staffers from failing to preserve presidential records. The White House said Saturday that it would cooperate with the committee in choosing an independent consultant to recover lost administration emails [JURIST report]. AP has more.

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