A federal judge on Tuesday denied a motion for preliminary injunction sought by a First Amendment advocacy group to compel the expeditious processing of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the Mueller report and supporting materials.

US District Court Judge Reggie Walton ruled from the bench that the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s (EPIC) motion, “didn’t meet the threshold required for him to make such an extraordinary emergency move.” But, Walton noted that the Justice Department should disclose the records sought by EPIC “as expeditiously as humanly possible.” 

On March 29 EPIC moved for a preliminary injunction, requesting the court “order the agency to grant EPIC’s request for expedited processing and to immediately process and issue a determination on EPIC’s FOIA Request.”

Following the conclusion of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, EPIC filed a FOIA lawsuit on March 22 requesting the final report into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

Although the court declined to compel the Department of Justice to expedite its review of the FOIA Request, Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday, in testimony before Congress, that the report should be made public by the end of the week.