Federal judge blocks release of second volume of special counsel report to Judiciary Committee leaders

In fact, there is not one instance of this happening until now,

she wrote

Prosecutors play a special role in our criminal justice system and are entrusted and expected to do justice,

the judge concluded

Given the very strong public interest in this criminal proceeding and the absence of any enforceable limits on the proposed disclosure, there is certainly a reasonable likelihood that review by members of Congress as proposed will result in public dissemination of all or part of Volume II,

she wrote

With respect to the Department’s assertion of congressional interest in Volume II, there has been no subpoena by Congress for review or release of Volume II,

Cannon wrote

These statements do not reflect well on the Department,

she wrote of arguments the department made last week, when Garland was still attorney general

Much of this information has not been made public in Court filings,

Cannon wrote

Never before has the Department of Justice, prior to the conclusion of criminal proceedings against a defendant—and absent a litigation-specific reason as appropriate in the case itself—sought to disclose outside the Department a report prepared by a Special Counsel containing substantive and voluminous case information,

Cannon wrote

The bare wishes of one Attorney General with 'limited time' in office to comply with a nonexistent 'historical practice' of releasing Special Counsel reports in the pendency of criminal proceedings is not a valid reason,

Cannon wrote

In short, the Department offers no valid justification for the purportedly urgent desire to release to members of Congress case information in an ongoing criminal proceeding,

Cannon wrote in an order published Tuesday, the day after Trump returned to office