Court: FBI can’t withhold whole file on Don Young probe

From Josh Gerstein at Politico:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was wrong to categorically withhold all records of a corruption probe of Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Acting in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler said that while records of probes of private individuals are regularly withheld as a categorical matter, investigations into public officials should not be treated the same way. In addition, she rejected the Justice Department's arguments that the only reason to grant CREW's request would be if there was evidence of impropriety on the part of the federal agency that conducted the probe, in this instance, the FBI.