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8/30/13, "Appeals court says White House visitor logs can be kept from public," Mark Tapscott, Examiner
"President Obama and his successors in the Oval Office are not obligated to make public the names of individuals visiting the White House, according to a decision of the federal Circuit Court for the District of Columbia made public Friday.
The case was brought by Judicial Watch,
the government watchdog nonprofit that has been fighting a long legal
battle seeking to force release of the White House visitor logs as
public records under the Freedom of Information Act.
But in a decision that is drawing intense criticism from across the
ideological spectrum, the circuit court said the president has a
"constitutional perogative" not to tell the American people who he or
his staff meets with in the White House.
The court said the president has such a prerogative because he is not
covered by the FOIA and because of "special policy considerations" that
allow exemption of visitor logs from classification as agency records
subject to release under the public records law.
President Obama began making public some of the White House visitor
logs in 2009, but refused a Judicial Watch request for all of the logs.
Administration spokesmen have often pointed to the partial release of
the logs to support the president's claim that his is "the most
transparent administration in history."
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton was extremely disappointed by the
decision, saying "a president that doesn't want Americans, under law,
to know who his visitors are is a president who doesn't want to be
accountable. The appellate court decision punches another hole in the
Freedom of Information Act, the law which allows Americans to know what
their government is up to."
Fitton's group is considering filing an appeal, which would be to the Supreme Court. There is no guarantee that the high court would accept the case.
"The legal gymnastics in this unprecedented decision shows that
President Obama is not only one willing rewrite laws without going
through Congress. And this legal fight, in which President Obama is
fighting tooth and nail full disclosure under law of his White House
visitors, further exposes his big lie that his administration is the
most transparent in history. The silver lining is that at least the
appellate court opened up the records of tens of thousands of White
House visits that Obama was trying to keep secret," Fitton said.
The Obama administration is not solely responsible for the status of
the logs, however, as the court repeatedly cited in its decision a 2006
memorandum of understanding between President George W. Bush and the U.S. Secret Service, which has custody of the records.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, another
nonprofit watchdog group that, like Judicial Watch, often focuses on
FOIA-related issues, pointed to the MOU's role in the decision:
"Central to the court's ruling was a 2006 memorandum of understanding
(MOU) the White House and Secret Service entered into after CREW made
requests and then sued for access to the visitor logs. That MOU
specified that White House visitor records are controlled at all times
by the White House. The timing and circumstances surrounding the
creation of the MOU strongly suggest it was manufactured solely to
buttress the government's litigation posture, but the D.C. Circuit
refused to consider the government's motives."
Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director, said the "White House
visitor records have proven of enormous value to the public in exposing
the outside influences brought to bear on presidential decisions and
policies. With this ruling, that window on the White House is now shut."
Go here to read the court decision. Go here to view the visitor logs that have been made public prior to the decision." via Atlas Shrugs
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