White House Lawyers To Appeals Court: Visitor Logs Should Remain Secret

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - White House lawyers continued to try to persuade a federal court on Monday that presidential visitor logs were exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, the Jurist reports.

An independent advocacy group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW), seeking information about how frequent nine conservative religious leaders, including James Dobson and Jerry Falwell, went on visits to the White House, had filed a lawsuit challenging the White House's claim of executive privilege.

The group also questioned the validity of a memorandum of agreement between President George Bush and the Secret Service in 2006 saying visitors to the White House compound were not to be publicly disclosed.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled December last year that the White House's visitor logs were public documents and ordered them released within 20 days. Lambeth, however, subsequently granted a request from the Bush administration to keep the logs confidential until an appeals court gives a ruling on whether the records are part of the public domain.

Appeals court judges seemed unconvinced of the contention made by White House lawyers on Monday about executive privilege, according to the Jurist, but are looking to find a balance between freedom of information and the Bush administration's arguments.