U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan on Friday set an Oct. 14 deadline for Judicial Watch to submit its questions to the Democratic presidential nominee, meaning her replies may not come until after the Nov. 8 election. Judicial Watch said it will act quickly, signaling Clinton's answers may arrive in the final weeks of the campaign.

The e-mail controversy spurred a federal criminal investigation and has dogged Clinton for more than a year as she vies for the White House. Her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, and his party have made it the centerpiece of their attacks on her honesty and credibility.

Aiding that endeavor has been Judicial Watch, a Washington-based group that uses Freedom of Information Act lawsuits to extract records from the federal government. In a suit filed in 2013, closed and then revived, it has pressed for information about Clinton aide Huma Abedin's overlapping employment at the U.S. State Department, the Clinton Foundation and an outside consulting firm while the Democratic nominee was the top U.S. diplomat.