Legal News

Stevens Judge: Is the DOJ Taking Court Orders Seriously These Days?

By Dan Slater

The blows keep on coming for the government in the case of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. The BLT blog reports that, in a status hearing today, Judge Emmet Sullivan held four DOJ lawyers in contempt for failing to turn over 33 documents related to post-trial motions.

The contempt finding was directed at William Welch II, chief of DOJ’s Public Integrity Section; Brenda Morris, principal deputy chief of the section and lead prosecutor in the case; trial attorney Kevin Driscoll; and Patricia Stemler, chief of the Criminal Division’s Appellate Section.

According to the BLT, prosecutors initially withheld the documents under the work product doctrine, but Driscoll said the team later determined the doctrine did not apply. When Driscoll failed to satisfy the judge with an answer as to why the documents weren’t turned over after this determination was made, the judge said he was holding the Justice Department lawyers in contempt.

“Is the Department of Justice taking court orders seriously these days?” the judge asked, bewildered. Sullivan reportedly said he would not issue sanctions until the conclusion of the case.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 13, 2009 (boomark / email).