Transmitted herewith for filing are the original and two copies of Plaintiff's Response to Defendants' Supplemental Brief Regarding Recent Developments. Please have one copy date-stamped and return it to the messenger who is delivering this filing. Enclosures Sincerely yours, Jackson R. Sharman III PLAINTIFF'S RESPONSE TO DEFENDANTS' SUPPLEMENTAL BRIEF REGARDING RECENT DEVELOPMENTS This memorandum addresses Defendants' Supplemental Brief Regard ing Recent Developments, served the afternoon of July 8, 1994. In that Supplemental Brief, Defendants purport to describe a recently-scheduled hearing before the House Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs Committee ("the Committee") addressing Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan ("Madison Guaranty") and other issues. In view of the imminent hearing, Defendants request that "this matter be temporarily removed from the Court's calendar." (Supp. Br. at 5.) Defendants' request is merely their latest excuse to avoid a decision on the merits. Plaintiff vigorously opposes any such delay for several reasons. First, Defendants have still not produced, nor have they indicated if or when they will produce, all documents sought by Plaintiff. Rather, Defendants have - 2 made available only a small volume of documents purportedly relating to the socalled "Washington phase" of the Fiske investigation. They continue to withhold many other categories of documents, including documents relating to the failure of Madison Guaranty, board minutes, examination reports, and other matters. Moreover, the circumstances under which they have made this small volume of documents available are, to say the least, unprecedented and bizarre. The documents are being made available to the Ranking Minority Member's staff in Room 2220 of the Rayburn House Office Building under armed guard. The staff personnel are not allowed to remove documents from that room, or even to remove their personal notes concerning the documents from that room. This unprecedented restriction on access to documents cannot be justified by the public interest in confidentiality. Indeed, when the Ranking Minority Member's staff was permitted access to documents relating to the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro ("BNL"), some of which involved United States relations with Iraq and were classified as national security secrets, the documents were maintained in a locked file cabinet, but there were no restrictions on use of personal notes and certainly no armed guards. Second, the scheduling of a hearing specifically encompassing Madison Guaranty makes even more clear that Defendants are violating their policy of making available to the Ranking Minority Member any requested documents pertaining to a failed thrift that is the subject of Committee hearings. See D. Opp. at 36 (describing Defendants' "general policy of releasing exempt documents where a formal investigation or other official action has been duly authorized by the Committee.") See also |