Court tosses White House appeal on visitor logs

[sabra]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON: A federal appeals court on Friday set back the White House's efforts to keep the names of its visitors secret.

The Washington court threw out the government's appeal in the case in which a watchdog group is trying to find out how often prominent religious conservatives visited the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's residence.

Despite the ruling against the White House, the decision does not necessarily mean that visitor logs will be subject to public disclosure.

...

The document request from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington would not require the president, Cheney or their staffs to sort through mountains of files, said Tatel.

The burden "should prove minimal," Tatel 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.

Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/11/america/White-House-Secrecy.php

[TwilightGardener]

1. The people have every fucking right to know who enters the White House, and why.

[yellerpup]

2. Yes we do!

K&R! :kick:

[bdamomma]

14. yes we do is correct

they are too concerned who is being invited into our houses, and being spied upon.

[marshall]

3. Didn't we already go through this with the Clintons in '97?

Pres. Clinton released the names of hundreds of guests who visited and stayed overnight in the White House. Much hoo-hah was made out of the millions that the guests contributed, but nevertheless a precedent was set for being open about such things.

[DogPoundPup]

5. The bushies aren't the Clintons, new rules now.

:puke:

Remember? Court orders and all legal actions don't apply to this bunch.

[gratuitous]

19. Oh that's so September 10!

See, 9/11 changed everything, see?

[choie]

21. don't you remember?

everything changed after 9/11:banghead:

[SCantiGOP]

15. I remember long, long ago

when the White House was referred to as the "people's house." Of course, that was back before the Department of Justice was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party.

[Tight_rope]

16. You are so fucking right. We pay the bills in that damn house and we have a right to know!

[DogPoundPup]

4. "sort through mountains of files"? Pretty simple thing to do,

Might prove just that one thing that this mis-administration was capable of doing without screwing it up.

Second thought ... most likely, not.

[Virginia Dare]

6. Time to get the shredders humming again...n/t

[I Have A Dream]

7. Yep.

x(

[redqueen]

8. The Clinton WH seemed to be able to manage to disclose this stuff.

No excuses.

[yellowcanine]

9. Mr. Bush, tear down that secrecy wall!

[Vidar]

22. Good one.

[MadrasT]

10. My guess

My guess is that they will conveniently be unable to locate the logs.

"I know they're around here SOMEWHERE."

Hmph.

[corkhead]

11. now we shall see in the visitor logs

Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon Jeff Gannon

[harmonicon]

12. awwww

It's so cute (!) when courts think they can have any influence over the white house. It's like they don't know they're only playing make-believe government.

[sui generis]

17. well the white house is about to stub its toe

you see Peter, if you claim national security often enough and there is no wolf there . . .

I would add, it actually hurts "national security" to do that. Sooner or later it will all come to head and that zit will blow some huge bloody yellow pus out of the top of the white house like a volcano of evil.

And it's not really "cute". It's required of the courts, cynicism aside, to at least make an effort.

[harmonicon]

18. nothing is going to burst

for over 7 years the cabal in power has simply done whatever it wanted, no matter what the congress or the courts thought. They aren't going to change now.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

13. If you'd just stop squatting in Our House George

All of these problems would go away.

[bluesmail]

20. My one wish: To be alive and dancing in the streets

when I learn their fleeing this country has been foiled.