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| For Immediate Release | |
| Apr 3, 2000 | Contact: Press Office 202-646-5172 |
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Files Writ of Mandamus in ‘Hail Mary' Attempt To Overturn Court Ruling That He Committed A Crime Prior Attempt To Overturn Privacy Act Ruling Rejected Clinton Administration Seeks To Stall Sworn Answers From Aide Bruce Lindsey (Washington, D.C.) In a desperate legal stunt, four years after Judge Royce C. Lamberth first ruled the Privacy Act applied to the White House, the Clinton-Gore Justice Department filed a writ of mandamus today with the U.S. Court of Appeals (D.C. Circuit) in an attempt overturn a ruling last week in federal court that President Clinton and his top lawyers committed a criminal act when they released Kathleen Willey's letters to Bill Clinton from government files in contravention of the Privacy Act. Writs of mandamus are rarely, if ever, granted – and this filing is four years late in any event. This same appeals court refused to hear a Clinton White House appeal of an earlier decision which, following the plain language of the law and congressional intent, said the Privacy Act applies to the President and the Executive Office of the President. In contravention of the court ruling, the Clinton-Gore White House has acted as if the law of the Privacy Act does not apply to it. The court rulings came in the context of Judicial Watch's $90 million civil lawsuit on behalf of those whose FBI files were wrongly taken and misused by the Clinton-Gore White House. Hillary Clinton is one of the defendants in the lawsuit. According to sworn admissions by the White House, she furthered the President's crime by participating in the decision to release the letters as part of the effort to smear Willey. "This frivolous legal stunt will almost certainly fail and Judge Lamberth's finding that Bill Clinton committed a criminal act will stand in law and history," stated Judicial Watch Chairman Larry Klayman. The Clinton-Gore White House purpose behind this stunt is to try to stall the court-ordered production of full answers from White House lawyer Bruce Lindsey about the illegal decision to release the Willey letters. "We will seek sanctions against the Clinton-Gore Administration for this frivolous legal stunt and delay tactic," promised Klayman. |
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