A federal appeals court on Friday denied a last-minute request by...

program (CD Sept 28 p10). The government may renew the appeal after “presentation to the district court and the district court’s issuance of an order granting or denying the motion,” said the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in San Francisco denied the government’s motions to postpone and reconsider a Sept. 24 order requiring the documents’ disclosure by Friday. “The Court is not persuaded that it should exercise its discretion to stay its own order pending ‘necessary consultations and deliberations to determine whether to appeal’ the Court’s Order,” White wrote. “The disputed documents were the subject of an order granting preliminary injunction dated April 2008, a subsequent delay in order for Defendants to re-evaluate their position subject to the reformed regulations of the Obama Administration, and the matter has been submitted on the parties’ cross-motions long enough for the Defendants to consider their options regarding a possible appeal in the event their motion was denied.” White said he turned down the request for reconsideration because no new facts, laws or arguments have emerged since the court issued the order. The government defendants “reargue points previously asserted to the Court and, in essence, merely express their disagreement with the Court’s decision.” The Justice Department and Office of the Director of National Intelligence responded late Thursday with an emergency motion at the 9th Circuit. The government said the solicitor general needs until Nov. 8 “to conduct the necessary consultations and deliberations regarding the appeal decision.” Without a delay, “the confidentiality of the documents will be irretrievably lost and this Court will be deprived of its ability to review the district court’s order,” it said.