The Obama administration was handed a defeat in court for the third time this year in a case involving the Freedom of Information Act, when a federal judge ruled the White House showed bad faith in holding back data about global warming to an organization seeking it,
The Washington Times reports.
Judge Amit Mehta granted legal discovery in a case brought by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an NGO that seeks to advance the principles of limited government, free enterprise, and individual liberty.
The NGO said the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy refused to release documents to back up director John Holdren's claim that global warming was making winters colder, a statement refuted by most scientists.
After the government agency initially said it could not find any such documents, it changed its story several times in an attempt to avoid making them public as required by law.
Mehta wrote in his ruling, "At some point, the government's inconsistent representations about the scope and completeness of its searches must give way to the truth-seeking function of the adversarial process, including the tools available through discovery. This case has crossed that threshold."
Competitive Enterprise Institute General Counsel
Sam Kazman said after the ruling that "as the government's course of action here demonstrates, there's a clear pattern when it comes to this administration: In dealing with global warming issues, agencies tend to act illegally."
The other two cases this year in which a judge found the Obama administration lacking in its efforts to abide by the Freedom of Information Act involved the State Department's handling of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's e-mails.
Hans Bader, senior attorney at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told The Washington Times there is no better proof that Obama is failing in his vow to run the most transparent government in American history than the fact that three judges have ordered discovery against his administration.