June 20, 2008

Contact: Naomi Seligman Steiner 202.408.5565 nseligman@citizensforethics.org

20 Jun 2008 // Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a motion for a stay pending appeal in CREW v. Office of Administration, CREW's lawsuit seeking documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documenting the disappearance of millions of e-mails from White House servers during a critical two and one-half year period of the Bush administration.

On June 16, 2008, the court dismissed the lawsuit on the ground that the Office of Administration (OA) is not an agency subject to the FOIA. CREW has appealed that decision and seeks a stay to ensure that the OA preserves all potentially responsive records pending the outcome of the appeal.

Without a stay, the OA has made clear it will transfer all the requested records to the Archivist, where they will not be available publicly for up to 12 years.

As it has done in the past in other litigation with CREW, the White House refused CREW's request that it commit in writing to preserving the requested records until CREW's appeal is decided.

The documents related to CREW's motion and appeal are posted to the right.