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Court tosses White House appeal on visitor logs
Jul 11, 1:19 PM (ET)
By PETE YOST
WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal appeals court on Friday set back the White House's efforts to keep the names of its visitors secret.
The three-member panel of judges threw out the government's appeal in a case brought by a watchdog group trying to find out how often prominent religious conservatives visited the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's residence.
The Bush administration was appealing a federal judge's decision last December that the government should gather the records the watchdog group wants.
Despite the ruling against the White House, public disclosure of visitor logs is by no means assured.
The Bush administration can still raise a variety of legal arguments in an attempt to keep the identities of White House visitors secret.
But appeals court Judge David Tatel said the document request from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is narrowly drawn and can be processed.
Handling CREW's request would not require the president, Cheney or their staffs to sort through mountains of files, said Tatel.
The burden "should prove minimal," he added.
The case now goes back to U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who ruled that White House visitor logs are public documents subject to disclosure requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080711/D91RPDS00.html
Jul 11, 1:19 PM (ET)
By PETE YOST
WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal appeals court on Friday set back the White House's efforts to keep the names of its visitors secret.
The three-member panel of judges threw out the government's appeal in a case brought by a watchdog group trying to find out how often prominent religious conservatives visited the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's residence.
The Bush administration was appealing a federal judge's decision last December that the government should gather the records the watchdog group wants.
Despite the ruling against the White House, public disclosure of visitor logs is by no means assured.
The Bush administration can still raise a variety of legal arguments in an attempt to keep the identities of White House visitors secret.
But appeals court Judge David Tatel said the document request from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is narrowly drawn and can be processed.
Handling CREW's request would not require the president, Cheney or their staffs to sort through mountains of files, said Tatel.
The burden "should prove minimal," he added.
The case now goes back to U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who ruled that White House visitor logs are public documents subject to disclosure requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080711/D91RPDS00.html