In a rare confirmation of a new investigation, the Justice Department has asked the Senate Judiciary Committee for its uncensored documents relating to last year’s congressional probe into Planned Parenthood’s practices and sale of fetal body tissues.

A year ago at the time of the committee’s final report — Human Fetal Tissue Research: Context and Controversy — chairman Chuck Grassley said he had found sufficient evidence of abortion providers transferring body parts and tissue from aborted fetuses for research and charging more than the cost of acquiring the material.

The Iowa senator also said evidence shows that the Justice Department in several administrations had neglected to enforce the law banning the sale and purchase of human fetal tissue.

Fox News is reporting now that Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Stephen Boyd on Thursday formally requested the committee material.

“At this point,” Boyd wrote, “the records are intended for investigative use only—we understand that a resolution from the Senate may be required if the Department were to use any of the unredacted materials in a formal legal proceeding, such as a grand jury.”

In 2015, pro-life activists for the Center for Medical Progress posing as fetal tissue researchers captured Planned Parenthood officials on video recordings talking about acquiring and selling baby parts from aborted fetuses.

“Over two years ago,” the center’s leader, David Daleiden, said Thursday, “citizen journalists at the Center for Medical Progress first caught Planned Parenthood’s top abortion doctors in a series of undercover videos callously and flippantly negotiating the sale of tiny baby hearts, lungs, livers and brains.

“It is time for public officials to finally hold Planned Parenthood and their criminal abortion enterprise accountable under the law.”