A federal judge struck down a $6.1 million contract between the Department of Justice and a private contractor to have the contractor create a database for the extensive testimony and evidence being presented in grand jury hearings relating to the prosecutions of January 6th Capitol insurrectionists.

Politico reports that US District Judge for Washington, DC Beryl Howell determined that the contractor, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, was not eligible to review confidential grand jury testimony.  The work that Deloitte was scheduled to do will now have to be done by government workers who will pass along the information to defense attorneys on an individual case basis.

The Justice Department had designated Deloitte employees working on the database as “government employees” due to their status as contractors, an argument Howell found unpersuasive.

“The term ‘government personnel’ is best construed, in accord with the bulk of the district court case law, as including only employees of public governmental entities,” wrote Howell, who oversees grand jury matters as the D.C.-based court’s chief judge.  “Deloitte, a private firm contracted by the government on a non-exclusive basis, is a private rather than a public governmental entity, and its staff are employees of the firm rather than the government. [The grand jury secrecy rule] thus does not allow disclosure of grand jury matters to Deloitte and its employees.”

While striking down the contract does not necessarily harm the ability to prosecute defendants, it will make the prosecutions longer and pre-trial motions more labor intensive.