ACLJ Backs Lawsuit Against AG Holder Over Fast & Furious

After failed attempts to get key documents in its investigation of the botched gun-running program known as Operation Fast & Furious, Congress filed a federal lawsuit in August urging a judge to force Attorney General Holder and the Justice Department to turn over critical documents in the case. There's still many unanswered questions about the failed gun-running operation that put guns into the hands of Mexican drug cartels - a program that resulted in the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
 
The lawsuit was filed by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and says those documents "would enable the Committee (and the American people) to understand how and why the Department provided false information to Congress and otherwise obstructed" the Congressional investigation.

The tactics employed by Holder and the Justice Department in the probe of Operation Fast & Furious reveal one thing: we have an Attorney General who's more interested in playing politics than upholding the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution.

The Justice Department has asked the federal court to dismiss the suit. Today, we filed an important brief urging the court to permit the lawsuit to proceed. In our amicus brief, we argue that the court has proper jurisdiction in this matter and should let the case move forward.
 
Our brief states:
 
"At stake here is Congress’s constitutional authority to investigate an egregious federal program in which the Department of Justice intentionally permitted guns to be illegally obtained and sold to Mexican drug cartels (Operation Fast and Furious), and then obstructed Congress’s efforts to obtain key information about the Operation. This Court clearly has jurisdiction in this case, and contrary to Defendant’s claims, judicial abstention would do far greater injury to the separation of powers than permitting the Executive to continue its intransigent opposition to Congress’s constitutional role."
 
This case should proceed. We'll keep you posted on the decision the court will reach with respect to dismissing the suit, or permitting it to move forward.
 
The American people deserve the truth. And, because of the stonewalling and refusal to cooperate by Holder and the DOJ, this lawsuit is essential to get to the bottom of what happened with this tragic program.
 
Jay Sekulow