federal judge rule tuesday u.s. state department officials aid hillary clinton question oath whether former secretary state use private email system effort skirt open record laws rule u.s. district judge emmet sullivan likely add uncertainty hover clinton front-runner democratic nomination november u.s. presidential election legal consequences decision exclusively use private email server new york home government work state department judicial watch conservative watchdog group seek depositions sue record employment senior clinton aide must agree plan depositions april sullivan say order tuesday accord court document sullivan judge federal court washington d.c. say least reasonable suspicion open record laws undermine washington post report sullivan appoint clinton husband former president bill clinton say may order department subpoena clinton return record connect private email server newspaper report clinton return 30,000 email state department 2014 say delete thousands others staff deem work-related judicial watch tell court want get swear testimony several senior state department officials clinton associate set know system deal request public copy clinton record accord court document could include patrick kennedy department secretary management cheryl mill clinton former chief staff department among others group say statement media group say may late seek clinton testify oath state department say review order could comment ongoing litigation department may appeal rule clinton apologize last year setup believe least inquiries email politically motivate one several lawsuits file right-wing group stop nothing pursue clintons do since 1990s clinton spokesman nick merrill say email least 1,700 email clinton unsecured server contain classify information accord state department include closely hold secrets country spy agencies arrangement investigate federal bureau investigation state department internal watchdog several republican-controlled congressional committees clinton rival democratic nomination u.s. senator bernie sanders vermont decline criticize clinton email arrangement campaign republican opponents hold back several urge clinton prosecute mishandle government secrets report jonathan allen additional report arshad mohammed washington edit andrew hay leslie adler article fund part sap independently create reuters editorial staff sap editorial involvement creation production judge order clinton aid question oath email