A Federal Judge has demanded, three times now, that the Obama Administration hand over documents that highlight how major phone companies AT&T and Verizon lobbied for legal immunity for their involvement in the government's warrantless wiretap program. The government, with no real legal footing to stand on, has now tried to delay that release three times in order to keep those documents out of the ongoing Congressional discussion about domestic wiretapping.

Interestingly, Politico has obtained a leaked government e-mail that suggests that even if and when the Obama Administration releases the documents, they may continue to protect the names of the companies involved in the lobbying. A government filing from yesterday offers Uncle Sam's murky position on why:Of course leaks have already suggested AT&T and Verizon are the major players here, though there may be dozens of other companies involved. If the Obama administration is acting to shield these companies from financial damage, that raises questions about whether that's the government's job (and a good use of tax dollars). It also obviously violates the administration's transparency campaign promises. Given how hard the government is fighting against the release of these documents, you have to be curious about what new information they might contain.