Judge denies request to block Bolton book

Source: The Hill | June 20, 2020 | Harper Neidig and Jesse Byrnes

A federal judge has denied a Trump administration request to block former national security adviser John Bolton’s book from being published.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth wrote in an order released Saturday that “while Bolton’s unilateral conduct raises grave national security concerns, the government has not established that an injunction is an appropriate remedy.”

The judge noted that the Justice Department’s push for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction comes after the book has been printed and shipped across the country ahead of its scheduled release on Tuesday.

Lamberth, who was appointed to the federal district court in D.C. by former President Reagan, seemed to suggest that he would have granted the injunction had Bolton and his publisher, Simon & Schuster, not already begun distributing the book.

The judge questioned Bolton’s actions in pushing ahead with the book’s publication without receiving written official notice concluding that his manuscript was clear of sensitive or classified information.

But the judge also said that it was too late to issue a restraining order that would temporarily halt the release, given that advance copies are already in the hands of journalists and its contents have been widely reported.

“In taking it upon himself to publish his book without securing final approval from national intelligence authorities, Bolton may indeed have caused the country irreparable harm,” Lamberth wrote. “But in the Internet age, even a handful of copies in circulation could irrevocably destroy confidentiality. A single dedicated individual with a book in hand could publish its contents far and wide from his local coffee shop. With hundreds of thousands of copies around the globe—many in newsrooms—the damage is done. There is no restoring the status quo.”

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