WASHINGTON — A Jewish group and the Justice Department argued in court Wednesday about the best way to get Russia to return the group’s historic books and documents.

The group, Chabad-Lubavitch, wants the judge to impose civil fines on Russia. The department says fines won’t help resolve the dispute and in fact would be counterproductive....

Chabad-Lubavitch, based in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, has already convinced Lamberth that it has a valid claim to the tens of thousands of religious books and manuscripts, some up to 500 years old, which record the group’s core teachings and traditions. The judge ruled the records are unlawfully possessed by the Russian State Library and the Russian military archive. And in 2010, he ordered the Russian government to turn them over to the U.S. embassy in Moscow or to Chabad’s representative. The lawsuit is more than eight years old....