Kevin Johnson

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — A federal judge rejected Tuesday the Obama administration's claim of executive privilege to block a congressional committee from obtaining records relating to a bungled gun trafficking investigation.

The very information that the administration sought to deny investigators with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform had been made public in 2012 by the Justice Department's inspector general's review of a Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives operation known as "Fast and Furious,'' U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote in a 32-page opinion.

The trafficking operation allowed hundreds of firearms to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartel enforcers and prompted numerous investigations and a protracted political fight in which the House voted in 2012 to hold then-Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over documents related to the ATF operation to the committee. The dispute prompted the committee's court challenge

"There is no need to balance the need against the impact that the revelation of any record could have on candor in future executive decision making, since any harm that might flow from the public revelation of the deliberations at issue here has already been self-inflicted,'' Jackson wrote. "The emails and memoranda that are responsive to the subpoena were described in detail in a report by the Department of Justice Inspector General that has already been released to the public.''

Justice officials had no immediate comment on the decision.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House panel, vowed to continue the investigation.

"After allowing guns to walk, the administration's attempt to hide behind executive privilege only adds insult to injury,'' Chaffetz said. "While the decision doesn't give us access to all the documents, it is an important step forward.''