National Archives sued for information on White House visitor logs classification

10 Jan 2007 // [JURIST] Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking compliance with a CREW Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents related to the destruction of White House visitor record logs kept by the Secret Service. In October 2004 NARA ordered the Secret Service to suspend its routine destruction of the logs and maintain copies, but last year in the midst of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal the White House and the Secret Service agreed to designate the logs as presidential records, effectively removing them from the public record unless the President authorizes their disclosure. CREW argues that NARA's communications with Secret Service over the visitor logs should be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

In a related case, US Justice Department lawyers last month asked a federal appeals court to overturn an October district court ruling that ordered the Secret Service to release visitor logs for the personal residence and office of Vice-President Dick Cheney in the context of a FOIA request made by the Washington Post during a probe of lobbying practices.