By Mark Impomeni, AOL News Blog, December 3, 2007

3 Dec 2007 // The Justice Department, in a court filing Friday night, made a previously unheard of claim of privilege in a lawsuit seeking documents related to White House visits by disgraced Republican fundraiser Jack Abramoff. The claim was made in response to a lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch. Another lawsuit seeking Abramoff related documents was filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). The Department was seeking to have the two lawsuits consolidated.

In its filing, the Justice Department claimed that the Secret Service had identified a new category of White House records that could not be released due to their sensitive nature. The so-called "Sensitive Security Records" are generated in the course of performing background checks on White House visitors and cannot be released because, "The simple act of doing so ... would reveal sensitive information about the methods used by the Secret Service to carry out its protective function," Justice Department lawyers argued.

Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton seized on the privilege claim as evidence of the merit of the group's suit. "We've alleged that the government has committed misconduct in this litigation and frankly this is more fuel for that fire," he said.

The White House has acknowledged seven visits by Abramoff, six in 2001 and one in 2004. None of the visits appears to have given Abramoff special access to the president. TIME magazine reporters reviewed five photographs of Abramoff and the president and reported that they had the appearance of, "the formal look of photos taken at presidential receptions."

Still, the privilege claim by the Justice Department does raise the question of whether more meetings took place. The claim is reminiscent of a similar privilege claim made by the Clinton Administration in the midst of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Lawyers for the White House at that time asserted a "protective function privilege" in an effort to prevent two Secret Service Agents from testifying about what they may have seen or heard in connection with Ken Starr's investigation. Starr moved to compel testimony and was successful.

It is difficult to imagine just what may be in these records that is so sensitive that the Bush Administration claims that they can't be released. National Security information is handled by the courts on a regular basis with proper safeguards and procedures. This filing by the Justice Department may simply be an effort to run out the clock on the litigation, with just over one year left in the Administration's tenure.