Judge rejects Obama administration secrecy on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
Judge rejects Obama administration secrecy on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
Documents could yield clues on Treasury Department’s dealings with mortgage giants
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A federal judge has issued a stinging rebuke to the Obama administration’s recent attempt to shield documents from disclosure in a case that could yield important clues about the Treasury Department’s relationship with mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Government lawyers had argued they could redact key information before releasing records to the public by saying the documents related to the “deliberative process.” But in a ruling last month, U.S. Federal Claims Court Judge Margaret M. Sweeney rejected that, saying the government was illegally cutting corners.
“Defendant asserts that the court should merely take its word that the documents — some of which defendant itself has not reviewed — are privileged. This is contrary to law.”
The ruling means discovery in the case can continue, though there’s still a protective motion in place, so it’s unclear when or whether documents will be made public. Still, government watchdogs cheered the ruling, saying it represented an important pushback against a tool in the administration’s increasingly use of the exemption to try to keep embarrassing information secret.
“Theft is not privileged,” Tim Pagliara, head of shareholders group Investors Unite, said in a statement after the ruling. “Investors deserve to know when the U.S. Treasury knew that Fannie and Freddie would become profitable and how that factored into the decision-making process.”
The case the shareholders filed sought information about the administration’s dealings with the two mortgage enterprises, including some of the background behind a complicated 2012 rule issued by the Treasury Department that shareholders argue has shut them out of profits.
The shareholders are seeking documents detailing the back-and-forth behind the rule.
Open government laws, and President Obama’s own instructions to his agencies, create a presumption that information is to be made public.
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