Federal Judge Not Amused By State Department's Continued Withholding Of Hillary Clinton's Emails

from the and-not-even-HE-can-force-it-to-work-faster dept

Wed, Feb 10th 2016 2:06pm — Tim Cushing

A federal judge has expressed his displeasure at the State Department's ongoing foot-dragging over the release of Hillary Clinton's emails.

US District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras told lawyers in a Washington, DC courtroom that "the government put me between a rock and a hard place" by failing to meet the deadline and asking for more time. Contreras didn't want the emails released without being properly vetted for sensitive information — State says it needs more time for the vetting process — but postponing the release was also to the detriment of the American public.

"To state the obvious, these documents have a lot of public interest, and the timing is important," Contreras said.

Contreras undersells the public interest -- which has been high ever since it was discovered Clinton had been conducting official (and sensitive) business using a private email server. Now that Clinton is a presidential candidate, the release of the emails could adversely affect her campaign.

I don't believe the State Department has a personal stake in Clinton's potential presidency, but it's operating in a way that would encourage people to come to that conclusion. Instead, this is likely business as usual for the agency.

For one, government agencies protect their own. Clinton's use of a private server makes the State Department look bad because no one with the power to do so ever made an effort to shut her down. Released emails show Clinton dealt with classified material, something that should never have been routed to a private email account. The State Department's lackadaisical handling of this matter would only be highlighted further by additional releases.

That's one aspect of it. The other is that the State Department is just generally terrible at handling FOIA responses. The agency's Inspector General released a report in January that showed the agency was more than just merely inept. Its FOIA response system is almost completely broken.

The report from State Department Inspector General Steve Linick points to a series of failures in the procedures the office of the secretary used to respond to public records requests, including a lack of written policies and training, as well as inconsistent oversight by senior personnel. The report also faulted the secretary’s office for a practice of not searching for emails responsive to FOIA requests unless the request specifically asked for emails or demanded “all records” on a topic.

“These procedural weaknesses, coupled with the lack of oversight by leadership and failure to routinely search emails, appear to contribute to inaccurate and incomplete responses,” the report says.

[...]

The report also points to extreme delays in other cases, such as an Associated Press request for Clinton’s schedules that was pending without substantive response for five years.

The outcome, however, is indiscernible from an active effort to shore up a candidate's presidential race. Judge Contreras is aware of this. He's attempting to set another hard deadline for the release of still-withheld emails, but there's only so much he can do when the State Department has casually rolled past other deadlines it's been given.

"Explain to me again why something that's gone through the legal reviews could not be posted until a week from Thursday," Contreras responded. "This seems like an unreasonably long period of time to post, or give access to, something that has already passed clearance."

The judge ordered State to provide "a very specific description" the following day of why the cleared files couldn't be released sooner. He also told State to consider alternative methods of disclosing the emails that might give VICE News access to them sooner, such as allowing the pages to be viewed on a screen without actually delivering them.

As it stands now -- even without malice aforethought by the State Department -- four states will have concluded their primaries before the agency has to produce the documents.

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Filed Under: clinton emails, emails, foia, hillary clinton, jason leopold, rudolph contreras, state department

40 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 10 Feb 2016 @ 2:14pm

She is shown just how well she respects any laws and regulations that restrict what she wants to do, and is still a candidate for protecting the constitution!
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- rw (profile), 10 Feb 2016 @ 2:21pm
  
  Re:
  Instead of "protecting" shouldn't you have said "circumventing"?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 5:05am
    
    Re: Re:
    Always amazes me, people happily stand aside and let their leaders decide their rights don't apply in some situations instead of taking charge and forcing them to acknowledge they always apply.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 6:42am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      What have you done to let your "leaders" know that you are taking charge and will be forcing them to acknowledge your rights?
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- That One Other Not So Random Guy, 10 Feb 2016 @ 2:44pm
  
  Re:
  Consti-whaaa? Oh, that little thing. Pfft. Why are we still acting like ANYONE in a public position gives a shit about it? Why are we still expecting them to? They've trampled on so much of it without a peep from the Amerikan Sheeples. So it's no wonder they don't respect it. We certainly don't appreciate it. If we did, there would be a million bodies descending on capital hill. What's that? American Idol's last season!!! Maybe the revolution can wait until the next commercial.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 10 Feb 2016 @ 5:35pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Well it's quite clear when there's Bernie Sanders leading the Democrats. A Clear Socialist. It's out in the open and people just don't care! A even bigger Government and stealing more money from one group to give to others. Free Collage, because Public Education has worked so well,...NOT! Since government doesn't have money, it steals it from others, who in the end will this effect? The ever shrinking Middle class. Because that's the largest group of people. You can tax 100% of the money form the so called RICH and it would only be a drop in the bucket of the money needed NOW, let alone this crap.
    
    To pay off the Debt now would cost every single Man,Woman and Child $40,000 and it's climbing.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 4:41am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      A Clear Socialist
      
      It is very sad that the best the Dems can do is put up a Socialist and a criminal.
      
      You can tax 100% of the money form the so called RICH and it would only be a drop in the bucket of the money needed NOW,
      
      Don't confuse people with facts. Dems are emotional and thus are drawn to Bernie and his ilk. Who doesn't want free stuff?
      
      To pay off the Debt now would cost every single Man,Woman and Child $40,000 and it's climbing
      
      All we heard about when Bush was in office was the war and the debt. Obama has ridden the debt to a level that may break us with no slowdown in sight and yet not a peep from the liberal media. He has done nothing for jobs and has created racial tension where little existed. But there are still people wishing he could do 4 more years.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 6:45am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        and another shill spewing bs, it's only going to get worse.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 7:26am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Shill? I wish I was getting paid. But no, your ad hominem response is the only bs here. Next time try to address the issues.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 7:59am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Yes, the GOP is not emotional. Tell that to Mr. Orange Skin
        
        http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/jan/20/barack-obama/barack-obama-claims- deficit-has-decreased-two-thir/
        
        http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/13/news/economy/obama-jobs-state-of-the- union/
        
        (Big corporations have done their best to send jobs overseas)
        
        Yeah, there was little to no racial tension until Obama - right. Where have you been, under a rock?
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 8:03am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Did I mention deficit or maybe possibly I mentioned debt? Big difference. Deficit is smoke and mirrors. National Debt is serious business.
        
        Lets also talk labor participation rate, the real number behind the workforce.
        
        http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000
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        Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 11:21am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        ... and disregard anything that does not agree with you
        
        The problem few address is the new jobs pay less than the lost jobs. The economy will not recover until the middle class recovers because the economy is mostly consumer driven and most of the consumers are middle class who have no disposable income. Thank you captains of industry.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 6:44am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      You sound very confused, perhaps a better understanding of the issues is in order.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Wendy Cockcroft, 11 Feb 2016 @ 7:40am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        It's easier to blow dog whistles and resort to partisan scare-mongering.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 8:04am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Free Collage, because Public Education has worked so well,...NOT!
      
      Now I have no choice but to agree.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 11:26am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        College used to be subsidized heavily, it no longer is.
        
        Public education has worked very well in many areas for many decades. Inner city slums not so much, you think funding has anything to do with it? Remove funding like congress and the states have been doing for some time and guess what ... you reap what you sow. Private schooling in not the panacea as some claim, there are many problems with the so called reform they are pushing.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 12 Feb 2016 @ 2:03am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      ...Free Collage...
      
      Yes please - I'll have one - you can make it out of anything :)
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
That One Other Not So Random Guy, 10 Feb 2016 @ 2:39pm

Its FOIA response system is almost completely broken
Works as designed, closes ticket.
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Mark Harris (profile), 10 Feb 2016 @ 2:50pm

Keep in mind, she was doing nothing unusual for a Secretary of State. Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powel did the exact same thing. Not saying it was right for any of them, but it was BAU for State by the time Clinton came along.
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- Anonymous Coward, 10 Feb 2016 @ 3:09pm
  
  Re:
  I love that "but look, she's just like these people from the GOP" is something Clinton supporters consider a valid excuse for the candidate that they simultaneously claim that "we must vote for" to keep the GOP out of office.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 10 Feb 2016 @ 3:26pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Or ... AC is pointing out the hypocrisy of those who would toss Hillary in the slam while praising Rice, Powel and others who were not criticized for the same exact thing.
    
    Funny how it is ok for some, but OMG for others.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 10 Feb 2016 @ 3:27pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      not AC ... Mark
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 10 Feb 2016 @ 5:39pm
  
  Re:
  How do you know? Ok, they had Private servers! There's not a single thing saying they had Classified Information on them. To this day Hillary says she didn't have any and yet there's hundreds of Classified messages. More LIES,LIES, LIES. Her husband was good at it. Obama opens his mouth and the lies flow on out. The RINO's which where are many, just a wing of the Democrat party.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 6:46am
    
    Re: Re:
    Prove a negative?
    ... ok, let's see your proof.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 10 Feb 2016 @ 5:42pm
  
  Re:
  Actually, no. Neither Rice nor Powell used a private e-mail server. They may have used a private e-mail address, but not an entirely separate server - let alone a separate server located in a closet in their homes.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 6:52am
    
    Re: Re:
    Perhaps some data would be beneficial here?
    
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_White_House_email_controversy
    
    http://dailysignal.com/2015/03/ 08/high-ranking-federal-officials-history-using-personal-email-government-business/
    
    http://www.defens eone.com/ideas/2015/10/why-do-top-government-officials-keep-using-personal-email-official-business/1 23107/
    
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clintons-experience-not-unique/2015/03/03/cf59747a-c1e 5-11e4-9ec2-b418f57a4a99_story.html
    
    http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/aug/18/howar d-dean/howard-dean-tremendous-number-public-officials-hav/
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Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 10 Feb 2016 @ 3:56pm

New to be Recognized Disease
Let's call it 'Positional Arrogance'. It seems to become virulent when governmental positions are attained, whether elected or appointed or just plain hired on. It does not infect all governmental employees or elected, but it appears that the percentage is really high, like potentially upper 90's. The symptoms are but not excluded to:

* Expressing verbally or via behavior the perception that laws are not there for them to follow, but for others.

* Speaking in a tone that denotes some sort of lower position to the listener.

* Ignoring legitimate communication from appropriate interested parties or simply responding in a dismissive manner, or answering a different question altogether possibly because the stock answers don't fit the question in question.

* Working at a not very workmanlike pace since efficiency and productivity are actually frowned upon.

* Hiding behind myriad excuses provided by organizational organizations such as political parties or unions.

* Displaying a desire overtly or covertly a willingness to maintain or be reappointed to positions as an accepted gratuity or by making inappropriate promises or by performing select services not available to the general populace or ahead of the public interest.

* Appropriating resources intended for the good of the general populace for the private use of individuals and/or organizations that offer gratuities and/or other non-government provided compensation either in the present or in the future.

* Assiduously making use of every holiday, closing time, unscheduled reason for time off, or other benefit without regard to the needs of the entities one is supposed to be serving.

There is only one definitive cure so far, death, but there are some mitigating treatments which include not reelecting them, employment termination, placement as an attendee rather than an employee of correctional facilities, or severe public embarrassment which is difficult due to the hard veneer established by experiences resisting public ire. The reason those treatments are only mitigating is that even after these various scourges they seem to pop back up and seek reentry into the system.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Feb 2016 @ 4:05pm

Powel and Rice did not run their own homebrew servers. The everyone else did it excuse is a complete lie..
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- jim, 11 Feb 2016 @ 6:14am
  
  Re:
  Right, they used the "RNC" server which was wiped. Which was under the care of some dude who died in an unusual incident, just as he was being called to detail election fraud, of the 2000 election in Ohio and Tenn. If I remember right, those votes tied up the pres election, for Florida to be pivotal. If I remember right, the drives were replaced, and destroyed? But we're they destroyed? And people talk of the Vince and Hillery connection? This one is a lot less tennious.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 6:55am
    
    Re: Re:
    If you provide any more facts, his head just may explode. Do you want that on your hands? Well - do you????
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Feb 2016 @ 7:18pm

"I don't believe the State Department has a personal stake in Clinton's potential presidency,..."

Nutbar material.
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That One Guy (profile), 10 Feb 2016 @ 8:54pm

Take the gloves off or sit down and shut up
As it stands now -- even without malice aforethought by the State Department -- four states will have concluded their primaries before the agency has to produce the documents.

I have no doubt that if the State Department is allowed to go at their own pace, several presidential elections will be over before they decide that they've vetted the documents for sensitive material to an 'adequate' degree, at which point they'll refuse to release them anyway as no longer being relevant.

The judge needs to hand them an ultimatum, 'You have until X, at which point whether or not you've gone through every document you're releasing them all. Get busy.'

They'll still refuse to comply of course, 'asking' for more time because why wouldn't they, it's not like the judge has the power or courage to hold them accountable for refusing an order, but at least they'd know that the judge was somewhat annoyed at their flaunting of the court's orders, and that's about as much as the judge can expect to get out of them.
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- Atkray (profile), 10 Feb 2016 @ 9:32pm
  
  Re: Take the gloves off or sit down and shut up
  Slight correction:
  
  "I have no doubt that if the State Department is allowed to go at their own pace, several presidential elections will be over before they decide that they've vetted the documents for sensitive material to an 'adequate' degree, at which point they'll refuse to release them anyway as no longer being relevant."
  
  Should be:
  
  I have no doubt that if the State Department is allowed to go at their own pace, several presidential elections will be over before they decide that they've vetted the documents for sensitive material to an 'adequate' degree, at which point they'll refuse to release them because the copyright holder is deceased and they don't have permission to publish them.
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- Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 5:10am
  
  Re: Take the gloves off or sit down and shut up
  Reminds me how the FBI refused to release the JFK assassination documents on the grounds they lost them, due to them now being considered historical records and no longer relevant enough to keep records of.
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Yes, I know I'm commenting anonymously, 11 Feb 2016 @ 4:12am

Let's throw another wild conspiracy theory out there
Maybe there are republicans in the state department that want to hold off the release until she gains the nomination of the democrats. It would be a good wat to establish a lead in the presidential race..
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 7:36am

This is where the armed Militia part of the Constitution comes into play
Form a Militia, arrest her, give her an fair trial then convict her ass.
Then, when politicians freak out, point out they always say the 2nd Amendment means a Militia, not individual rights.
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- Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 8:02am
  
  Re: This is where the armed Militia part of the Constitution comes into play
  How is your standoff going?
  Need any more dildos? How about some more lube.
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- nasch (profile), 11 Feb 2016 @ 9:34am
  
  Re: This is where the armed Militia part of the Constitution comes into play
  Form a Militia, arrest her, give her an fair trial then convict her ass.
  
  Does a militia have the authority to convene a trial?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 11:38am

The president can actually do very little that matters. Obama wanted to close Guantanamo, its still open. ObamaCare? You mean that thing written by Congress? Higher (or lower) taxes? Who writes the tax code? Oh yeah, Congress. The president can bomb a few places, but Congress could just defund the military. Bombs are expensive.

Bernie won't change our taxes, our healthcare system, or pretty much anything else. He can appoint an Attorney General that could throw Wall Street scumbags in prison. That by itself earns my vote.
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- Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2016 @ 12:10pm
  
  Re:
  Bernie freely admits that his policy does not stand a chance in today's congress. Hopefully enough congress members are replaced by those who want to get things done rather than obstruct. It is time to get rid of the do-nothing-congress.
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