You do not want to piss off a federal judge like DOJ did here.

CREW filed an open records request to get documents relating to Andrew McCabe's firing from FBI. DOJ has refused, on the grounds that they're relevant to a criminal case against McCabe — which doesn't exist yet.

The lawyer for CREW used to run the Open Records department at DOJ, and she and Judge Walton seem to agree that the trump administration has used DOJ to "go after" political enemies.

I can tell you, if I was Ms. Weismann, CREW's attorney, I'd have gone home with a big smile on my face after today's hearing.
(Of course, in the Courtroom you can't show off your happy face when the judge joins your argument. Might make him feel like he has to draw back some.)

Here's the dialog, as reported by the Washington Post:

" Weismann appeared to strike a chord with Walton by saying:

'We’re in dark times where there’s growing evidence that the president aided by the attorney general is using the power of his office to go after perceived political enemies.'

She continued: " 'He’s going after the intelligence community. He’s going after the law enforcement community . . . '

“ 'Going after the courts, too,' Walton interjected.

“ 'And he [Trump] is going after the courts, the press,' Weismann continued.

“ 'I totally appreciate what you just said and share many of the same concerns,' responded Walton, a former senior official in the D.C. U.S. attorney’s office and defense attorney."

The end result is that CREW will get the documents it wants unless DOJ convinces a grand jury to indict McCabe by Friday. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/judge-to-doj-decide-on-charging-andrew-mccabe-by-nov-15-or-face-release-of-fbi-records/2019/10/01/3e169168-e3c4-11e9-a331-2df12d56a80b_story.html