[h=1]Court denies access to White House visitor logs[/h] [h=2]A federal appeals court rules that White House visitor logs are presidential records and therefore exempt from disclosure requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.[/h]
A federal appeals court ruled Friday that White House visitor logs for the president and most of his staff are not public information subject to disclosure requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.
The 3-0 decision would keep the visitor records confidential for up to 12 years after President Obama leaves office.
The appeals court ruling dealt a defeat to a private group that asked the Secret Service for all White House visitor logs from Obama's first seven months in office.
"Congress made clear that it did not want documents like the appointment calendars of the president and his close advisors to be subject to disclosure" under the Freedom of Information Act, wrote Merrick Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Judicial Watch, a conservative-oriented watchdog group that sued in an effort to get the records, said it was considering an appeal.
"Decisions like this turn the Freedom of Information Act from a transparency law to a secrecy law," said the group's president, Tom Fitton.
Disclosure battles over White House visitor logs have been a staple of both Democratic and Republican administrations.
In May 2006, the White House and the Secret Service asserted that the visitor records were presidential records, as opposed to agency records belonging to the Secret Service. Under federal law, presidential records can remain confidential for up to 12 years. As an executive branch agency, the Secret Service is subject to the Freedom of Information Act, which requires public release of material unless one of nine exemptions applies.
In Friday's ruling, Garland said that construing the term "agency records" to extend to White House visitor logs could substantially affect the president's ability to meet confidentially with foreign leaders, agency officials or members of the public, which could make the Freedom of Information Act a potentially serious congressional intrusion into the conduct of the president's daily operations.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-white-house-visitors-20130831,0,577299.story
The most open and transparent administration my ass.
It is easy to understand that some visitors might be classified. The answer is simply to black out their names. This ruling means that they can hide whoever is visiting and thereby, what is actually happening. It is our house they are visiting, yet we are not allowed to know who goes in it, and we are not even allowed to visit it.
A federal appeals court ruled Friday that White House visitor logs for the president and most of his staff are not public information subject to disclosure requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.
The 3-0 decision would keep the visitor records confidential for up to 12 years after President Obama leaves office.
The appeals court ruling dealt a defeat to a private group that asked the Secret Service for all White House visitor logs from Obama's first seven months in office.
"Congress made clear that it did not want documents like the appointment calendars of the president and his close advisors to be subject to disclosure" under the Freedom of Information Act, wrote Merrick Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Judicial Watch, a conservative-oriented watchdog group that sued in an effort to get the records, said it was considering an appeal.
"Decisions like this turn the Freedom of Information Act from a transparency law to a secrecy law," said the group's president, Tom Fitton.
Disclosure battles over White House visitor logs have been a staple of both Democratic and Republican administrations.
In May 2006, the White House and the Secret Service asserted that the visitor records were presidential records, as opposed to agency records belonging to the Secret Service. Under federal law, presidential records can remain confidential for up to 12 years. As an executive branch agency, the Secret Service is subject to the Freedom of Information Act, which requires public release of material unless one of nine exemptions applies.
In Friday's ruling, Garland said that construing the term "agency records" to extend to White House visitor logs could substantially affect the president's ability to meet confidentially with foreign leaders, agency officials or members of the public, which could make the Freedom of Information Act a potentially serious congressional intrusion into the conduct of the president's daily operations.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-white-house-visitors-20130831,0,577299.story
The most open and transparent administration my ass.
It is easy to understand that some visitors might be classified. The answer is simply to black out their names. This ruling means that they can hide whoever is visiting and thereby, what is actually happening. It is our house they are visiting, yet we are not allowed to know who goes in it, and we are not even allowed to visit it.