According to the details, United States (US) District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued that ruling in a withering opinion that accused Barr of being “disingenuous” when describing Mueller’s findings.
Furthermore, the judge found that the Justice Department was not candid with the court about the purpose and role of the 2019 memo prepared by Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel.
The DOJ had previously argued that the memo should be kept from public view due to attorney-client privilege and the fact that the memo was used by Barr to help make a decision on whether to prosecute Trump.
Jackson, who was appointed to the federal district court in Washington, DC, by former President Obama, wrote in a derisive 41-page decision that “not only was the Attorney General being disingenuous then, but DOJ has been disingenuous to this Court with respect to the existence of a decision-making process that should be shielded by the deliberative process privilege.”
“The agency’s redactions and incomplete explanations obfuscate the true purpose of the memorandum, and the excised portions belie the notion that it fell to the Attorney General to make a prosecution decision or that any such decision was on the table at any time,” she added.
“The review of the document reveals that the Attorney General was not then engaged in making a decision about whether the President should be charged with obstruction of justice; the fact that he would not be prosecuted was a given,” wrote Jackson.
CREW filed its lawsuit in May 2019 seeking internal DOJ documents regarding Barr’s public statements around the release of the Mueller report. A spokeswoman for the Justice Department declined to comment.
The Justice Department can appeal Jackson’s decision to force release of the memo.