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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Sanders Temporarily Suspends DNC Suit

(CN) - With two days left until the last Democratic debate before the Iowa caucus, the ascendant campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders put its lawsuit against the party on hold Friday.

Sanders filed the lawsuit on Dec. 18, 2015, one day shy of the final Democratic debate of the year, after the Democratic National Committee blocked his campaign's access to a crucial voter database.

The DNC took the campaign to task when it learned that Sanders' then data director had exploited a glitch in the party's shared system to look at Hillary Clinton's files.

By the time the candidates took to their podiums for the December debate, the DNC had restored access to the Sanders campaign, and the candidates kept their discussion of the lawsuit cordial.

Aside from occasional press statements serving as a reminder of the federal litigation, the case has otherwise simmered on a quiet docket in the District of Columbia.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an appointee of President Barack Obama, ordered the Sanders campaign to inform the court today whether it intended to formally serve the DNC with court papers.

The campaign's lawyer Benjamin Lamboitte told her in a status report Friday afternoon that they would put the lawsuit on ice.

"The parties are engaged in discussions and are continuing in their cooperative efforts to resolve the pending litigation," Lamboitte told the court. "In light of these efforts, plaintiff does not intend to serve defendant at this time."

The campaign seems to be prepared to renew its $600,000 per day lawsuit, if negotiations fail.

"However, if the parties are unable to resolve this dispute, plaintiff reserves the right to serve defendant before the expiration of the time limit for service set forth" in the federal rules of civil procedure, he said.

Neither party has disclosed what remains under negotiation.

Developing story...

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