On February 8, 2021 -- 19 days after Joe Biden was inaugurated as President of the United States -- the justice department filed a motion to quash a subpoena for the testimony of Betsy DeVos.
They didn't have to.
But they did.
In fact, there was and still is a lawsuit pending in federal court in California in which Ms. DeVos was likely to be deposed. The lawsuit in California was filed on behalf of students who alleged lots of things went wrong in the loan program administered by then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, to make a long story short.
Ms. DeVos was no longer the Secretary of Education when the justice department filed its motion to quash a subpoena in the California case for her deposition. So the justice department did not have to try to shield her, a private citizen, from testifying in a judicial proceeding.
But they did.
Beyond that, the federal judge in California had already expressed his willingness that Ms. DeVos should be deposed in that case. The federal judge in question happens to be one of the most respected judges in the federal court system, let alone in the Northern District of California.
But the justice department filed its motion anyway.
In Florida. They filed their motion in Florida. Why?
They went about as far away as you can get from California and still be in the continental United States. To say again, they filed their motion in Florida on February 8, 2021. Look it over here: Download In re Subpoena Served on Elisabeth DeVos Doc. No. 1 Motion to Quash Subpoena on Betsy DeVos filed Feb. 8 2021 (S.D. Fla. No. 21-mc-14073).
I have read the motion. It is snarky at times; it is snide on occasion. The opposing parties took the unusual step of calling it "inappropriate." That would not be an unusual description in most of today's lawsuits. However it is not something that is often said about pleadings filed by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The motion was signed by KEVIN P. HANCOCK, Esquire, a person who identified himself as a Trial Attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the DOJ Civil Division.
MR, HANCOCK, the one who signed the motion, was previously a law clerk at the Third Circuit Court of Appeals for Judge Maryanne Trump Barry.
If this kind of game-playing had taken place in private practice, there would almost certainly have been unpleasant consequences as a result. To say again, they did not have to try to shield Betsy DeVos from testifying, but they did. They filed their motion despite the fact that the federal judge in the California case had already expressed his willingness for Ms. DeVos to testify. And they filed their motion in Florida, not in California where the case was pending. Above all, they got paid for it, at our expense, at the expense of the federal taxpayer.
On April 7, 2021, the federal judge in Florida sent the motion to the federal judge in California to decide. Here is the order from the federal judge in Florida: Download In re Subpoena Served on Elisabeth DeVos Doc. No. 28 Order Granting Transfer to California filed April 7 2021 (S.D. Fla. No. 21-mc-14073). The justice department has not brought its motion to the California judge's attention or asked for their motion to be heard. They have not dared.
It only took the justice department two months to lose.
We can expect that the justice department will lose motions. However we have a right to expect that the lawyers in that department will behave professionally.
Particularly since we are the ones paying his salary.
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