Instead, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered in Washington that the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section provide him and Stevens' lawyers with all its communications related to the agent's complaint. The material, due Jan. 29, will be filed under seal, Sullivan ruled, preventing public disclosure.
The FBI complaint, by agent Chad Joy, has clouded Stevens' conviction on seven counts of failing to disclose gifts and services over six years. Joy alleged that the public corruption investigation in Alaska was tainted by another agent's improper source handling, and that prosecutors in Stevens' trial knowingly withheld evidence that Stevens was entitled to see.
Sullivan has complained that he has gotten multiple and contradictory answers from prosecutors as he sought to unravel the status of Joy's complaint. Last week, he demanded answers from the outgoing attorney general himself or one of his top deputies.
The Justice Department appealed Sullivan's order and got an emergency stay Saturday from the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals until the issue could be heard. Prosecutors said that they had no objection to providing Sullivan the information, but that the attorney general had no direct knowledge of the Joy complaint and in any event had his hands full with security and other matters related to the Obama inauguration.
Now that Sullivan has withdrawn his order, the appeal appears to be moot.
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