Missing White House Email Records Can Remain Secret, Judge Rules

WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled Monday that a White House office that has records about millions of possibly missing e-mails does not have to make them public.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly says the Office of Administration is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, enabling the White House to maintain the secrecy of a lengthy internal paper trail about its problem-plagued e-mail system.

The decision came in a lawsuit filed against the administration by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a private group that has been trying to find out the extent of the White House's e-mail problems for more than a year.

The functions of the Office of Administration "are strictly administrative," Kollar-Kotelly ruled.

Kollar-Kotelly said the Office of Administration has no authority over others in the executive branch and that the office is exclusively dedicated to providing services to the Executive Office of the President.

Since its creation in 1978, the Office of Administration has responded to FOIA requests. But the Bush White House reversed that policy in August 2007 in the lawsuit filed by CREW.

Kollar-Kotelly's decision closes off one avenue of inquiry because while CREW is appealing, time is running out, with just seven months remaining in office for the Bush administration.

Still, the White House's legal problems over its e-mail system are not over. CREW and another private group, the National Security Archive, have sued the Executive Office of the President over the possibly lost e-mail, claiming that the EOP has failed to comply with legal obligations by failing to take steps to ensure preservation of electronic records.

In that case, a judge is considering whether to instruct the EOP on steps it must to take to safeguard electronic messages. The White Houes is seeking to have that suit thrown out.

The White House has acknowledged problems with its e-mail system, while saying that if any e-mail is missing, it can be found on disaster recovery backup tapes.

Comments

[MsLiz]

Here's is the Court's opinion.

http://snipurl.com/2jzm1 [www_citizensforethics_com]
Essentially, the judge (a Clinton appointee) found that the court did not have subject matter jurisdiction to grant the relief sought by the Committee for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The Freedom of Info act covers agencies, and the Office of Administration is not an agency as defined by the law.

I don't have the background to say what the law is, but the judge seems to have made a reasonable decision. Just because we don't like the outcome doesn't mean the judge is evil. Sometimes the law doesn't give us what we want.

CREW has appealed.

[ignrnthllblly]

"Strictly administrative," hmmm?

I remember when Bush detailed the four (sic) branches of U.S. government, he included the "adminstrative" branch. Sounds like Judge Kollar-Kotelly has taken the cue and spoken it into existence.

[MizLiz]

I just looked up this judge on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colleen_Kollar-Kotelly

She was appointed by Clinton, for pete's sake. The Supreme court is as political as it gets...sure wish she was.

[research]

The Emails aren't lost, they are in that man sized safe in Cheney's office.

[Vinca]

TO research: Fired attorney Iglasis, said ,paraphrasing, the admin wanted to tell them what to do,

[jsarets]

Well, at least Bush seems to be able to use a computer. That's more than we can say for McCain.

I could see Bush unwinding after a long day of barely paying attention to stupid, boring meetings by playing a relaxing combat simulation on America's Army. He always stops playing when the statue comes down and it's time to win the peace (boring).

[LWkcma]

are you kidding .... he probably just downloads porn...

[HoracePManure]

I'm making a list of all the fascist Bush sympathizers - so we can put these people where they belong.

Guantanamo.

[w&cheneysuck]

As Reagan sais; "here you go again"....

[GerryS]

what a load of doo- doo. giving BUSHCO(tm) a pass is WRONG!

[Vinca]

To GerryS:IS GW BUSH SUPERMAN< AND CHENEY AS WELL? THEY SURE SEEN TO BE

[realpolitic]

I thought now that this administration has reached a nadir that judges would not bow and scrape to them. I guess some judges to want to stamp out any governmental accountability in the face of Bush administration incompetencies and illegalities. I wonder why so many, such as Tony Blair and Colin Powell, are so willing to compromise their integrity for Bush. I thought there was an law that said these records must at least be retained for historians. What a pity! I hope this ruling is soon overturned.

[macbabe]

London just LOVEs Bush... NOT!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz9TpHbQGAM

[RTIII]

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, PEOPLE.

This isn't just a tiny little blerb - or shouldn't be. This SHOULD be headline news.

We have to FIX THE FRIGGEN MEDIA, TOO!

[Vinca]

To RT111: IT is astonishing the way the SO-CALLED NEWS STATIONS feel what PARIS IS DOING OR BRITTANY SPEARS, is MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYTHING ELSE< IT IS A COVER FOR THE REAL NEWS< THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW

[lthuedk 1]

Dear judge Kollar-Kotelly:

It's our business, because it's our government, judge Kollar-Cotelly. In fact, judge, you might be breaking the law yourself because there is ample probable cause of malfeasance which could only be discovered one way. You have shut down our right to know. We live in an all-cards-on-the-table country, your honor.

Stop shielding very bad, even treasonous people.

Your lack of foresight is troubling. Your allegiance to those who -without any doubt- subverted our nation is noted. Wherever did you get your law degree, in the old Soviet Union?

http://www.light-to-dark.com/cut_n_run.html

[HoracePManure]

Excuse me Mr. Judge - we're reading your emails right now and we think you should reconsider.

[dlbdpb]

tsk , tsk, tsk,......what else is new, and what did we expect from this crooked, corrupt, secretive administration. Hopefully one day the country will be enlightened to all the misdeeds they
have done. What's really sad is that the majority of the country didn't elect this president, and we've
missed our opportunity to rise up united and demand he be impeached a long time ago, thanks to
this congress (who probably has as many misdeeds and doesn't want to open that can of worms).
January 20th can't come soon enough.

[Tommygun264]

The United States Justice Department, under Attorneys General Michael Mukasey, Alberto Gonzales and John Ashcroft has served an active role as part of a crime organization, complicit in felonies and war crimes. If the true extent of these crimes are ever to be known, either Congress must pass a new Independent Prosecutor Law so that the new Attorney General under President Obama may appoint a Special Prosecutor, or the new Attorney General under President Obama must appoint an Independent Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute the Justice Department under the Bush Administration. Unless there are full and thorough investigations and prosecutions, fragments of this criminal organization will remain and the integrity of the US Justice Department may never be restored. President Obama will be under significant political pressure to direct his Attorney General to drop all open investigations into crimes committed by the Justice Department under the previous administration in order to demonstrate a spirit of bipartisanship, just as President Clinton halted all investigations into the involvement of the George H. W. Bush administration in the Iran-Contra Scandal when he took office. But he must not do this as it will once again allow criminals to go unexposed and unpunished so they may continue to undermine the integrity of our government.

[RTIII]

He already said he won't do that.

He may halt the existing investigations because they're worthless - and start anew. That's what I would probably do - all new people, fresh look at _everything,_ etc.