Feds move to consolidate lawsuits over Hillary Clinton emails

By Josh Gerstein, Politico, Sept. 1, 2015

The Justice Department is preparing to ask a federal judge to consolidate an unwieldy flurry of pending lawsuits which demand copies of emails sent or received by Hillary Clinton or her top aides, sources told POLITICO Tuesday.

The planned move raises the possibility that dozens of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits could be placed in front of a single judge--at least for a a period of time--in order to avoid conflicting schedules for the release of records.

The proposed action is not expected to alter plans for monthly public releases of Clinton's emails, but could temporarily halt orders to produce emails her aides have turned over to the State Department in recent weeks in response to the agency's requests. Justice plans to ask that disclosures of those records be put on hold until the motion to coordinate the cases is resolved.

Because of that potential delay, at least some of the FOIA litigants are expected to fight the consolidation move.

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