White House continues arguing visitor logs are exempt records [View All]

The Obama administration is continuing to argue that White House visitor logs are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, despite other district court holdings saying otherwise....

"The presidential communications privilege, as its name and the Circuit’s opinions suggest, extends only to communications," Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia ruled in a similar lawsuit. "The visit records sought by plaintiff need only consist of the visitor’s name, date and time of visit, and in some cases the name of the person requesting access for the visitor and in some cases the name of the person visited."

In the Obama administration's latest filing, however, they claim that “the district court cases on which relies for a contrary conclusion were incorrectly decided.” The government court filings also note the administration’s new discretionary release policy with respect to the visitor logs, and cite national security concerns as an additional reason for withholding the records.

http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/index.php?i=11405