|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Justice Department Asks Federal Judge to Block Hatfill Lawsuit
The U.S. Justice Department has requested a federal judge block a lawsuit filed by former U.S. Army biologist Steven Hatfill, who has been the public focus of the FBI’s investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks. Hatfill has charged the department with, among other things, violating his constitutional rights to privacy, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Sept. 2). The department has asked U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton to stop Hatfill’s privacy violation claims while the department works to have most of Hatfill’s other allegations dismissed, according to the Post. In a declaration filed last month, FBI supervisor Richard Lambert said the release of information on the bureau’s effort to find the culprit of the 2001 anthrax mailings could damage the investigation and reveal information about U.S. biological defenses. Attorneys for Hatfill yesterday, however, criticized the Justice Department’s efforts, noting that it was Attorney General John Ashcroft who had publicly labeled Hatfill a “person of interest” in the investigation. “It was Mr. Ashcroft, not Mr. Hatfill, who decided to speak publicly about investigators’ interest in Mr. Hatfill,” attorney Thomas Connolly wrote in court papers filed yesterday. “Now, however — now that they have been called to answer for their illegal actions — the defendants suddenly express grave concern for the secrecy and integrity of the investigation they themselves turned into one of the premier media circuses of 2002-2003,” Connolly wrote (Carol Lenning, Washington Post, Dec. 3). Meanwhile, FBI surveillance of Hatfill has decreased in recent weeks, according to law enforcement officials and a person close to Hatfill. The law enforcement officials said, however, that the reduced surveillance did not indicate a lessening of interest in Hatfill (Curt Anderson, Associated Press/Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 3).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
