Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington - Visitor records

Report: Secret Service told to provide Abramoff's White House visitor records

crew — Thu, 2 Oct 2008 12:48:36 -0500

CREW has sued to obtain the records of Jack Abramoff's visits to the White House. The Hill is reporting on this development:

The Secret Service has 18 days to hand over White House visitor logs detailing disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s visits, according to Judicial Watch, a public interest legal group.

Judicial Watch on Thursday announced that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia earlier in the week ruled against the Secret Service motion to dismiss the group’s open-records requests. The court’s Tuesday decision ordered the agency to finish processing the requests and provide all non-exempt records within 20 days of the court order.

CREW scores major coverage with victory in Court on White House visitor records

crew — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:04:51 -0500

We had a major victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals on Friday. Here's a sampling from the major news outlets:

NY Times: Setback for White House on Visitor Logs:

The Bush administration was dealt a setback on Friday in its efforts to keep records of White House visitors under wraps when an appeals court refused to throw out a lawsuit seeking access to the material.

Washington Post: Court Chips Away at White House Secrecy

A federal appeals court dealt a blow yesterday to White House efforts to keep secret the names of people who visited Vice President Cheney.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the White House had prematurely appealed a decision by a federal judge last year that visitor logs are public records.

Associated Press (reprinted in over 75 publications): Court tosses White House appeal on visitor logs

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.

Big win in U.S. Court of Appeals for CREW: FOIA request of White House visitor records must be processed

crew — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:53:16 -0500

Today, CREW successfully moved ahead in its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for public access to Secret Service records of top conservative religious leaders who have visited the White House. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a decision in CREW v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Security, dismissing the government’s appeal.

After learning of the decision, CREW's chief counsel Anne Weismann said:

We are pleased that the D.C. Circuit is requiring the government to provide these Secret Service records that the White House has been trying to hide from the public. The American people are entitled to know who has been influencing the White House.

Anne is right, of course.

Basically, the district court rejected the Bush administration’s argument that the records belong to the president, not the Secret Service, and are therefore not subject to the FOIA. Today’s opinion holds that the court does not have jurisdiction to resolve the government’s appeal because the district court has not ordered the government to release any records, simply to process CREW’s request.

The D.C. Circuit also resoundingly rejected the White House’s argument that requiring the government to process the request and invoke exemptions would place a constitutionally impermissible burden on the president or vice president. The court found that CREW’s request is “narrowly drawn” and that requiring the administration to rely on the FOIA’s exemptions to protect claims of executive privilege “is a routine occurrence, not a uniquely intrusive burden.” As a result of the court’s ruling, the Secret Service will now have to process CREW’s request.

San Antonio Express-News on visitor records: "President Bush is wrong"

crew — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:48:28 -0500

An editorial in today's San Antonio Express-News advises the Bush administration to release the visitor records that CREW is requesting. We concur:

The presidency is a powerful position, the most powerful in the world, powerful enough to withstand the disclosure of a visitors list.

President Bush would have you think otherwise.

President Bush is wrong.

White House lawyers, responding to a federal judge who had ordered the release of the list last year, contend the disclosure would erode the power of the office — a specious argument that merely enhances the view of this administration as closed and secretive.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the group seeking the list, does not want a transcript of the conversations between these visitors and the president and vice president.

If it did, the White House might have a case; instead, the group merely wants the list to determine how often prominent religious conservatives visited both the White House and the vice presidential residence.

CREW is in court today opposing the Bush administration's effort to block release of visitor records

crew — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:10:51 -0500

CREW has been fighting the Bush administration's efforts to prevent the release of visitor records for the White House and the Vice Presidential mansion. We maintain these are public records and a federal district court judge agreed with us. The Bush administration is appealing -- and we'll be in the Court of Appeals today opposing them again:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington wants to use the Secret Service documents to show the influence religious conservatives have on the Bush administration. The government argues that proves the records are related to the White House, not to the workings of the Secret Service, and should not be released.

"The prospect of each and every appointment record immediately becoming the subject of forced public disclosure would surely cast a chill over the ability of the president and vice president to collect information and advice," Justice Department lawyers wrote in court documents.

CREW lawyers reject that argument. They say the documents shouldn't be considered White House records simply because a watchdog group is trying to find out what the White House is up to. The Secret Service created and controlled the documents, the lawyers said, so they should be public.

Nearly two dozen news organizations, including The Associated Press, filed court documents supporting the release of the Secret Service logs.

Waco Tribune to Bush: Drop the "culture of secrecy"

crew — Tue, 8 Jan 2008 07:59:00 -0600

Waco is the closest city to George Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. So, today's tough editorial in the Waco Tribune was especially interesting. Citing CREW's lawsuit against the Bush administration over visitor records, the paper takes Bush to task for his "culture of secrecy":

President Bush’s culture of secrecy belies his administration’s emphasis on accountability.

The principle of open government bolsters America’s representative democracy by ensuring that the people have access to public affairs conducted in their behalf.

Transparency in government goes hand in hand with accountability, a fact that gives the Bush administration extremely low marks in its promise to be accountable to the people.

They've reached the same conclusion we have:

By constantly fighting to deny public access to public business, Bush gives the unavoidable impression that he has a lot to hide.

Bush admin. to appeal visitor records decision

crew — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 07:57:51 -0600

Not a big surprise given the herculean efforts and elaborate scheming undertaken by the Bush administration to foster secrecy. There will be an appeal of the decision requiring the Bush administration to make public its visitor records. We're supposed to receive the records within 20 days of the decision, but they've asked the judge to stay that, too:

The Bush administration asked a federal judge Thursday not to force the release of White House visitor logs until it can appeal a ruling that the documents are public.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth rejected the government's secrecy arguments and ordered the Secret Service to turn over the records to a liberal watchdog group that sought them through a public records.

The logs being sought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington relate to White House visits regarding nine conservative religious commentators, including James Dobson, Gary Bauer and Jerry Falwell.

Las Vegas Sun to Bush admin.: Enough Secrets Already

crew — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:27:26 -0600

More editorial support for CREW's lawsuit against the Bush administration. This from the Las Vegas Sun:

On Monday U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth rightly rebuked the Bush administration, seeing its argument as nothing more than a smokescreen. He ordered the administration to turn over the documents.

That follows a decision in a separate lawsuit in which a judge ordered Vice President Dick Cheney's office to turn over its visitor logs. The administration is appealing the decision in Cheney's case and is expected to appeal Lamberth's decision as well.

If the administration had any sense of decency, it would quit wasting taxpayer money fighting these lawsuits and accept that the public has a right to know who is doing the public's business.

Major papers give major coverage to CREW's court victory against the Bush administration over visitor records

crew — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:45:59 -0600

The New York Times:

Judge Lamberth questioned the legality of a 2006 agreement between the Secret Service and the Bush administration in which the records were supposed to be turned over to the White House and labeled presidential documents, which would bar their release under freedom of information lawsuits.

The judge described the agreement as “self-serving” because it was drafted after the records were created and after the litigation had begun. Until the Bush administration, White House visitor logs had often been released by the Secret Service in response to requests from outside groups and news organizations.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of the advocacy group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said her organization was “pleased that the judge saw through the White House’s transparent attempts to hide public documents from the American people.”

The group had wanted logs for White House visits by several conservative religious commentators, including James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, and the Rev. Jerry Falwell.

Washington Post:

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth rejected this argument, saying the records qualify as "agency records" subject to disclosure. He also rejected the claim that the records should be kept secret to preserve the confidentiality of presidential and vice presidential deliberations, noting that even a Cheney aide testified that the purpose of the visits is not apparent from the documents.

"Knowledge of these visitors would not disclose presidential communications or shine a light on the President's or Vice President's policy deliberations," Lamberth wrote in his opinion.

Officials with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which sued to obtain the records, expressed satisfaction. "CREW is pleased that the judge saw through the White House's transparent attempts to hide public documents from the American people. We look forward to sharing the documents we obtain through this lawsuit," said Executive Director Melanie Sloan.

AP on Judge's decision: The ruling is a blow to the Bush administration

crew — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 15:53:32 -0600

The Associated Press report on CREW's victory in court today:

White House visitor logs are public documents, a federal judge ruled Monday, rejecting a legal strategy that the Bush administration had hoped would get around public records laws and let them keep their guests a secret.

The ruling is a blow to the Bush administration, which has fought the release of records showing visits by prominent religious conservatives.

Visitor records are created by the Secret Service, which is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. But the Bush administration has ordered the data turned over to the White House, where they are treated as presidential records outside the scope of the public records law.

But U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled logs from the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's residence remain Secret Service documents and are subject to public records requests.

In a lawsuit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal watchdog group, Lamberth ordered the Secret Service to turn over visitor logs regarding nine conservative religious commentators, including James Dobson, Gary Bauer and Jerry Falwell.

"I think it's hugely significant," said Anne L. Weismann, the watchdog group's chief counsel. "The judge saw their arguments for what they were."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto and Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said lawyers were reviewing the decision and they would have no immediate response. The Bush administration is expected to appeal the ruling.