U.S. District Judge Richard Leon on Monday accused lawyers in the Shirley Sherrod defamation case of going on a “wild goose chase” for evidence. The judge’s solution: putting Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack in a deposition chair as soon as possible.
Vilsack made the decision to oust Sherrod, a former U.S. Department of Agriculture administrator. A lawyer for one of the defendants said Monday that the U.S. Department of Justice informed him Vilsack wouldn’t be available for a deposition because of his position as a senior government official. Leon scoffed at the notion that the government could successfully fight a subpoena for Vilsack’s testimony.
