A Florida federal judge on Tuesday turned back the Miccosukee Tribe’s bid for public records on a former U.S. Department of Justice attorney whom the tribe has accused of fraud, finding no fault in the DOJ’s decision to neither confirm nor deny the existence of the requested documents.
U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga granted the DOJ summary judgment in the Freedom of Information Act suit, ending the tribe’s bid for evidence to back up its suspicions that Guy Lewis had left his position as director of the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys under a cloud of misconduct in 2004, years before he represented the tribe in private practice.
“Although the FOIA favors the disclosure of government records for the good of the public, the DOJ has met its burden to show the [Office of Professional Responsibility], [Office of Tribal Justice], and EOUSA’s refusals to confirm or deny the existence of the records the Tribe is seeking are justified,” the judge wrote in an order, referring to the various DOJ offices named in the complaint. Continue>>>
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