A federal judge this week slapped down another effort by the Obama
administration to conceal its use of taxpayer funds. Litigation between
shareholders in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the U.S. government has
called for the revelation of documents that the White House tried to
keep secret under the doctrine of “executive privilege.”
Plaintiffs contend that the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2008, and the diversion of profits from the companies to the federal treasury in 2012, carried out an unconstitutional taking of property. The Obama administration has refused to make public communications — thousands of documents — between the Treasury Department, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the White House, on the ground of executive privilege.
U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Margaret Sweeney rejected government efforts to protect an even narrower set of communications as “protected.” “The court will not condone the misuse of a protective order as a shield to insulate public officials from criticism in the way they execute their public duties,” she wrote. This should be the operating principle applied to a trove of documents still sealed under varying assertions of “executive privilege.”
In an effort to demonstrate the need for transparency, Judge Sweeney formally published her order so that it and the related documents can be readily found by every law firm in the country and easily cited as a precedent for the proposition that the federal government cannot hide behind protective orders to keep documents sealed in order to avoid “second guessing” of unpopular or poorly thought out decisions.
http://www.investors.com/politics/viewpoint/a-nixonian-overreach-by-the-obama-administration/
Plaintiffs contend that the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2008, and the diversion of profits from the companies to the federal treasury in 2012, carried out an unconstitutional taking of property. The Obama administration has refused to make public communications — thousands of documents — between the Treasury Department, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the White House, on the ground of executive privilege.
U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Margaret Sweeney rejected government efforts to protect an even narrower set of communications as “protected.” “The court will not condone the misuse of a protective order as a shield to insulate public officials from criticism in the way they execute their public duties,” she wrote. This should be the operating principle applied to a trove of documents still sealed under varying assertions of “executive privilege.”
In an effort to demonstrate the need for transparency, Judge Sweeney formally published her order so that it and the related documents can be readily found by every law firm in the country and easily cited as a precedent for the proposition that the federal government cannot hide behind protective orders to keep documents sealed in order to avoid “second guessing” of unpopular or poorly thought out decisions.
http://www.investors.com/politics/viewpoint/a-nixonian-overreach-by-the-obama-administration/
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