The Justice Department, citing privilege claims, has refused to release e-mails and other documents sought under an open records request by The Washington Times to explain its decision last year to dismiss a civil complaint accusing the New Black Panther Party of intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling place.
In a letter, the department said that while 69 documents totaling 135 pages were responsive to the Freedom of Information Act request for information on how and why the decision to dismiss the complaint was made, they were being withheld because of "deliberative process" and "attorney work-product" privilege exemptions.
"For your information, the withheld material includes e-mails between officials in the Civil Rights Division and the Office of the Associate Attorney General regarding the litigation strategy, drafts of court filings and briefing materials related to the subject of your request," said Carmen L. Mallon, chief of staff in the department's office of information policy.
In July, The Times reported that Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli, the No. 3 official at the Justice Department, approved the decision to dismiss the complaint, according to interviews with officials familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss it publicly.
That decision was made while career lawyers in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division were recommending that Justice seek sanctions in the case after they had won a default judgment in court. The lawyers were in the final stages of completing that work when they were told by their superiors to seek a delay, according to federal records and the interviews.
The delay was ordered by then-acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King after she discussed the case with Mr. Perrelli, according to the interviews. Ms. King, a career senior executive service official, had been named by President Obama to temporarily fill...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/22/justice-refuses-to-release-documents/
