The judge listened to the parties and asked for additional briefing on the issue of whether the legislative committee could grant immunity. The briefing on that issue is not due to be completed until March 24. I do not expect a ruling until after that briefing is completed. The lawyers for Stepian and Kelly both argued that the Committee could grant immunity to their clients and that such immunity would bind the US Attorney. This does not sound right to me.

The judge listened carefully to the arguments. The "foregone conclusion" concept may be a key issue on the act of production. I expect the committee will be supplementing their filing with additional e-mails from Kelly and Stepian to show that it is a foregone conclusion that there are additional e-mails. The lawyer for the committee indicated that there are more e-mails from or to Stepian and Kelly that have been produced by other parties.

Even if the judge rules in favor of the committee, there will be additional appeals or fights on jurisdictional grounds. The lawyers for Kelly and Stepian both reserved the right to contest jurisdiction if the court rules against them

I am expecting that the judge will order most of the e-mails to be reviewed by her in camera before they are produced. The appeals or challenges to jurisdiction will also take some time. The attorneys are doing their job in delaying the production of these documents in order to encourage the Committee to grant immunity to Stepian and Kelly.