Days after the Justice Department closed its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email use while she served as secretary of state, Judicial Watch has asked a judge for permission to question her. (Richard Drew/AP)

A conservative legal group asked a federal judge Friday for permission to question Hillary Clinton under oath about her use of a private email server as secretary of state in a civil lawsuit seeking public records from the State Department.

The filing in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Judicial Watch came days after the Justice Department, at the FBI’s recommendation, closed a criminal investigation into Clinton’s handling of classified information with no charges, and after the State Department reopened an internal review of Clinton’s server setup as secretary from 2009 to 2013.

In asking U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the District to order the deposition of Clinton and two other current and former State Department officials, Judicial Watch cited a statement by FBI Director James B. Comey Jr. on Tuesday that FBI investigators had recovered several thousand work-related emails that were not among the 30,000 returned by Clinton to the department in 2014.

Sullivan on Friday directed attorneys for the State Department to respond by Tuesday and said that he would hear oral arguments July 18. Judicial Watch said that it expected to complete any deposition within four weeks and seek no further discovery in the case.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on pending litigation, but Judicial Watch in its filing said that the government opposed the request.

[FBI recommends no criminal charges in Clinton email probe]

The legal group, which filed suit in 2013 seeking records related to the employment arrangement of Clinton aide Huma Abedin, said the FBI finding raised questions about Clinton’s statement that her lawyers had handed back all potential federal records. The group said only Clinton could address the basis for her statement that her email setup was “allowed” by the department and why she decided to use it.

“Although significant progress has been made in uncovering evidence concerning the creation and use of the clintonemail.com system and the State Department’s approach and practice for processing FOIA requests potentially implicating Secretary Clinton’s and Ms. Abedin’s emails, important questions remain,” ­Judicial Watch attorney Michael Bekesha wrote.

Sullivan previously had allowed Judicial Watch to question seven current and former Clinton and department officials about whether her email arrangement thwarted public records laws, and said the group could ask whether to depose Clinton herself later.

Judicial Watch also asked to depose Clarence Finney, a State Department official responsible for managing records and FOIA responses for the office of the secretary, and John Bentel, formerly in charge of the secretariat’s information technology unit.

[Inspector general report sharply criticizes Clinton’s email practices]

In a statement, Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said, “This right wing organization has been attacking the Clintons since the 1990s so it’s no surprise that after the Justice Department declared this case closed, they are trying to keep this issue alive in order to try to hurt Hillary Clinton’s campaign for President.”