White House Visitor Logs Are Public, Judge Rules
WASHINGTON - A federal judge ruled Monday that White House visitor logs were public records and ordered the Bush administration to stop withholding them from scrutiny by outside groups.
The ruling, by Judge Royce C. Lamberth of Federal District Court here, was a blow to the administration, which had tried to shield the logs under a claim of executive privilege. The blow could, however, be largely symbolic; the White House seemed likely to appeal the decision, which could hold up the release of any documents until after President Bush leaves office in 13 months.
Judge Lamberth was ruling in a case brought by a left-leaning advocacy group in Washington that had sought to determine how often several conservative religious leaders entered the White House for meetings during the Bush administration. The order could have an impact on other lawsuits seeking visitor logs from the White House, including a suit that seeks a tally of visits by Jack Abramoff, the corrupt Republican lobbyist.
Judge Lamberth held that because the logs were maintained by the Secret Service and not directly by the White House, they could not be shielded from release under the federal Freedom of Information Act.
“Because the Secret Service creates, uses and relies on, and stores visitor records, they are under its control,” he said. “Knowledge of these visitors would not disclose presidential communications or shine a light on the president’s or vice president’s policy deliberations.”
Judge Lamberth questioned the legality of a 2006 agreement between the Secret Service and the Bush administration in which the records were supposed to be turned over to the White House and labeled presidential documents, which would bar their release under freedom of information lawsuits.
The judge described the agreement as “self-serving” because it was drafted after the records were created and after the litigation had begun. Until the Bush administration, White House visitor logs had often been released by the Secret Service in response to requests from outside groups and news organizations.
Melanie Sloan, executive director of the advocacy group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said her organization was “pleased that the judge saw through the White House’s transparent attempts to hide public documents from the American people.”
The group had wanted logs for White House visits by several conservative religious commentators, including James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, and the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
Spokesmen for the White House and the Justice Department withheld comment on Judge Lamberth’s ruling and whether it would be appealed.
“As these issues remain in litigation, we will not comment further at this time,” said a White House spokesman, Tony Fratto.
Administration officials signaled, however, that the White House was almost certain to appeal. It has repeatedly tangled with Judge Lamberth, who has issued decisions in several cases that challenged the administration’s theories of executive power.
© 2007 The New York Times
Like our government agencies, Bush has turned our democracy into a hollow shell. And the Democratic Congress, led by Nancy impeachment-off-the-table Pelosi has aided and abetted him. I hope the voters in her San Francisco district give her what she deserves, a swift kick out the door.
I believe its a shame that secrecy is hiding our safety in this country. We don’t even know what laws we are governed by with out executive transparency. We have no idea what laws are passed to keep us safe in case of an emergency situation. This administration has ruined our standing in the world and within the states. If we have a major catastrophe we will not know what to do, until someone breaks the seal on official documents to learn what this A-hole has implemented with out congressional approval, and then to start the implementation at some later date. Like they will have the practice to carry it out with out some failure, like in Katrina. “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” I truly believe, as citizens of the United States of America, the president and his seat in office should be ousted and our country should be solely governed by the congress whose power rests in the hands of the people. Then we can forgive and forget this awful douche bag and his cronies, by trial. Our system currently does not work. We do not need a president. Our founding fathers believed in the past we needed a sole representative of our system, a delegate of the congress. They where skeptical of giving that much power to one person then, think about now. Now that it is clear we do not need a president. Now we need trust in our local representatives, and trust in our leadership, not a flailing gimpy turnbuckle from the corporate mob, telling us to “go shop” during a disaster, like in 9-11.
Go garden some food and fiber for yourself and the infrastructure. If you don’t buy food, you can spend more on your house and education and we won’t be wasting as much gas and destroying as much of the environment. We do not need to outsource our infrastructure.
Nicely done by the Fed Court. Nearly 8 full years after the books were closed to the public - giving Col. Klink (Rove) time to bury ALL the evidence - we can now go view the “public” records which will show without a doubt how high level corporate exec’s filed into Cheney and Rove’s office daily bankrupting our nation and the moral fabric of this country. Can I get an AMEN!! Hallelujah!!
Interesting, isn’t it, that at the same time the maladministration is seeking unfettered access to every citizens’ international phone conversations, they’re refusing to allow public access to documents generated at taxpayer expense.
A government for itself, by itself.
Are all these records where the fire was today I wonder?
Damn it, you know they were.