U.S. to Appeal White House Logs Ruling

[sabra]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration asked a federal judge Thursday not to force the release of White House visitor logs until it can appeal a ruling that the documents are public.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth rejected the government's secrecy arguments and ordered the Secret Service to turn over the records to a liberal watchdog group that sought them through a public records.

The logs being sought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington relate to White House visits regarding nine conservative religious commentators, including James Dobson, Gary Bauer and Jerry Falwell.

Visitor records are created by the Secret Service, which is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. But the Bush administration has ordered the data turned over to the White House, where they are treated as presidential records outside the scope of the public records law.


Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5huwECNWFJHbvOgIgWHReW7Dfq9BwD8TLEO8G0

[rfranklin]

1. Bush Junta, not the United States is fighting this...

What a misleading headline.

[angstlessk]

2. eggactly what I thought...not the U.S..... boosh and his junta! n/t

[gratuitous]

7. The pleading is styled CREW v. United States

So the party filing the appeal from Judge Lamberth's ruling is, indeed, the United States. And while in this narrow instance the "United States" is the Bush administration, ultimately, it's you and me who will be paying the freight to fight this court battle, even against our own express wishes.

Isn't that nice?

[frogcycle]

3. these rats are getting so cornered

they know that the criminal enterprise is coming apart at the seams. They have to stall, obfuscate, duck, weave until they can get the hell out of town. The very idea that teh visitor logs, whether public property or not, should be worth their going to court over is appalling. As with every other instance when they stonewall, the question is WHAT ARE THEY HIDING? Who is in those logs? How many visits by Abramoff, overnights by the male hooker, who else?

If they were not hiding big stuff, it would behoove them to just release the damned things to show they are clean.

Is James Baker going to be called in to argue this before the SCOTUS?

Sheesh.

I dream of the day they are all frog-marched off to jail.

[underpants]

4. This doesn't even make any sense-of course they are public records

they couldn't possibly be anything else

Jesus

and as usual the talking heads will begin the report with "but the White House says....."

[Thor_MN]

5. Appeal? I think they don't know how to spell redact and/or destroy.

[Toots]

6. What records? Cheney ordered the SS to destroy all visitor logs

More destruction of evidence that will not be accounted for. Democrats are making it painfully obvious that they are complicit in this ramnpant destruction of evidence..

[WhiteTara]

10. thick black smoke in his office

took care of all the evidence.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

8. Fair is fair:

Congressional investigators used the records a decade ago in their investigations of the various Whitewater scandals involving President Clinton and his associates, as well as allegations of influence peddling by the Clinton campaign in the 1996 elections.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/17/visitor.logs/

[WhiteTara]

9. of course, now let's see if we have any justice left

great pic. If only...