Philadelphia partner Scott Coffina wrote an article, “House Republicans vs. Holder,” for the National Review Online.
 
In it, he discusses the lawsuit filed by the House of Representatives against Attorney General Eric Holder that seeks to enforce its subpoena for documents related to the Department of Justice’s “Fast and Furious” operation, which involved the flow of illegal guns to Mexico.
 
The Oversight Committee subpoenaed documents that could shed light on how the Department of Justice ultimately concluded that Fast and Furious was “fundamentally flawed” after initially denying whistleblower complaints about the program. President Obama asserted executive privilege over the relevant documents, and the Committee's lawsuit challenges that assertion.
 
The federal court will now have to determine what documents, if any, are covered by the privilege, and whether the committee has a sufficient need for the information to override the privilege and order those documents to be produced.
 
Scott considers the applicability of executive privilege and whether the committee's need for the documents would justify overriding the privilege if it applies. Based on the fact that the Justice Department already provided false information to the committee in the course of the committee's investigation into Fast & Furious, Scott predicts the court will not look sympathetically upon the department's attempt to shield the documents on executive privilege grounds and the committee will be able to demonstrate sufficient need for the demanded documents for the court to order them to be produced.

To read the entire article, click here.