Anonymous ID: 63dd0b April 7, 2020, 4:30 p.m. No.8716991   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>7034 >>7040 >>7044 >>7068 >>7236 >>7417

he State Department on Monday rejected Hillary Clinton’s effort to avoid depositions for herself and her former chief of staff in a lawsuit brought by the government watchdog organization Judicial Watch.

 

The former Secretary of State and her former top aide Cheryl Mills are seeking a writ of mandamus to avoid a judge’s order requiring their testimony in an open records case involving Clinton’s use of a private email server for government business.

 

"The government did not seek and thus does not support the extraordinary relief of mandamus due to the unique circumstances of this case," reads the State Department's response signed by multiple members of the Justice Department.

 

"One aspect of the district court’s rulings, although not central to the pending petition, is of particular concern to the government: assertions that the government acted in bad faith in litigating this FOIA request are wholly without basis," the Department's response says.

 

U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth in early March granted the request to depose Clinton about why she utilized a private email server, her grasp of "State's records management obligations," and any information she has about materials pertaining to the 2012 Benghazi attack.

 

Clinton and her former Chief of Staff later in March sought a writ of mandamus from the Court of Appeals to avoid having to sit for depositions.

 

Clinton has long come under scrutiny for her use of a private email server while serving as the Secretary of State.

 

https://justthenews.com/accountability/state-dept-and-judicial-watch-do-not-support-clinton-mills-attempt-avoid-depositions#.XovP1jmCBu8.twitter

Anonymous ID: 63dd0b April 7, 2020, 4:36 p.m. No.8717053   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>7067 >>7108 >>7132 >>7139 >>7173

U.S. appeals court hands win to Trump plan to resume federal executions

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration’s effort to resume federal executions got a boost on Tuesday from a U.S. appeals court, which tossed a district judge’s injunction that blocked four death penalty sentences from being carried out.

 

The 2-1 ruling by a three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit could pave the way to the Justice Department carrying out the first execution of federal death row inmates since 2003, although other issues remain to be litigated.

 

The two judges in the majority, Greg Katsas and Neomi Rao, were both appointed to the bench by Republican President Donald Trump. The dissenting judge, David Tatel, was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton.

 

The court concluded that U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan was wrong to find in her November ruling that a law called the Federal Death Penalty Act requires the federal government to follow all execution protocols in the state where the execution is set to take place. The two judges in the majority differed on what aspects of state rules the federal government have to follow.

 

The judges left unresolved separate claims brought under different federal laws, which the district judge will now address when the case returns to her.

 

In December, the Supreme Court rejected a Trump administration request to intervene in the case at an early stage to allow the executions to proceed.

 

Most executions in the United States have been carried out by states rather than the federal government, which has been hindered by protracted litigation over the drugs used in lethal injection executions.

 

The inmates scheduled for execution by lethal injection all were convicted in federal courts of murder. They are Daniel Lee, Wesley Purkey, Alfred Bourgeois and Dustin Honken.

 

Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio

 

 

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-deathpenalty/u-s-appeals-court-hands-win-to-trump-plan-to-resume-federal-executions-idUSKBN21P2LN