Judge Orders White House to Hold E-Mails

Mon Nov 12, 2007 3:48 PM EST
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WASHINGTON — A federal judge ordered the White House to preserve copies of all its e-mails, a move that Bush administration lawyers had argued strongly against.

U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy on Monday directed the Executive Office of the President to safeguard the material in response to two lawsuits that seek to determine whether the White House has destroyed e-mails in violation of federal law.

In response, the White House said it has been taking steps to preserve copies of all e-mails and will continue to do so. The administration is seeking dismissal of the lawsuits brought by two private groups, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the National Security Archive.

The organizations allege the disappearance of 5 million White House e-mails. The court order issued by Kennedy, an appointee of President Clinton, is directed at maintaining backup tapes which contain copies of White House e-mails.

The Federal Records Act details strict standards prohibiting the destruction of government documents including electronic messages, unless first approved by the archivist of the United States.

Justice Department lawyers had urged the courts to accept a proposed White House declaration promising to preserve all backup tapes.

"The judge decided that wasn't enough," said Anne Weismann, an attorney for CREW, which has gone to court over secrecy issues involving the Bush administration and has pursued ethical issues involving Republicans on Capitol Hill.

The judge's order "should stop any future destruction of e-mails, but the White House stopped archiving its e-mail in 2003 and we don't know if some backup tapes for those e-mails were already taped over before we went to court. It's a mystery," said Meredith Fuchs, a lawyer for the National Security Archive.

CREW and the National Security Archive are seeking to force the White House to immediately explain in court what happened to its e-mail, an issue that first surfaced nearly two years ago in the leak probe of administration officials who disclosed Valerie Plame's CIA identity to reporters.

Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald revealed early in 2006 that relevant e-mails could be missing because of an archiving problem at the White House.

The White House has provided little public information about the matter, saying that some e-mails may not have been automatically archived on a computer server for the Executive Office of the President and that the e-mails may have been preserved on backup tapes.

The White House has said that its Office of Administration is looking into whether there are e-mails that were not automatically archived and that if there is a problem, the necessary steps will be taken to address it.

Kennedy issued the order following recommendations to do so by a federal magistrate who held a hearing on the matter.

"We will study the court's order and the magistrate's recommendations," said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel. "However, the Office of Administration has been taking steps to maintain and preserve backup tapes for the official e-mail system. We have provided assurances to the plaintiffs and to the court that these steps were being taken. We will continue preserving the tapes in compliance with the court's order."

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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{"commentId":1179473,"authorDomain":"adambecker"}
Adam Becker

So the White House is simultaneously saying "we promise to archive all our e-mails, it's reliable," and "we didn't delete those old e-mails on purpose, the archiving system is unreliable!"

Also, I'd love to know what the administration's reasoning for wanting to be able to delete the e-mails is. I mean, we all know the REAL reason, but what will they tell a court?

{"commentId":1179473,"threadId":"175088","contentId":"1092009","authorDomain":"adambecker"}
  • 16 votes
Reply#1 - Mon Nov 12, 2007 4:31 PM EST
{"commentId":1179837,"authorDomain":"jwbuchan"}
jamiewb

The Executive Branch of the US Government has ordered that this article should be deleted, as it is a threat to National Security.

Dear White House: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...

{"commentId":1179837,"threadId":"175088","contentId":"1092009","authorDomain":"jwbuchan"}
  • 9 votes
#1.1 - Mon Nov 12, 2007 6:18 PM EST
{"commentId":1180830,"authorDomain":"MCLiepshutz"}
MCLiepshutz

you can't fool me twice?

{"commentId":1180830,"threadId":"175088","contentId":"1092009","authorDomain":"MCLiepshutz"}
  • 4 votes
#1.2 - Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:16 AM EST
Reply
{"commentId":1179907,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Wheel

Justice Department lawyers had urged the courts to accept a proposed White House declaration promising to preserve all backup tapes.

"The judge decided that wasn't enough," said Anne Weismann, an attorney for CREW,

I'm certain her tongue was firmly in her cheek when she said that.

{"commentId":1179907,"threadId":"175088","contentId":"1092009","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
  • 7 votes
Reply#2 - Mon Nov 12, 2007 6:40 PM EST
{"commentId":1179994,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
Pamela Drew

A federal judge Monday ordered the White House to preserve copies of all its e-mails, a move that Bush administration lawyers had argued strongly against.

U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy directed the Executive Office of the President to safeguard the material in response to two lawsuits that seek to determine whether the White House has destroyed e-mails in violation of federal law.

The White House is seeking dismissal of the lawsuits brought by two private groups — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government and the National Security Archive.

Go Archives and CREG, let's remember who's out fighting for this. Kudos Justice Kennedy, thank you!!

{"commentId":1179994,"threadId":"175088","contentId":"1092009","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
  • 10 votes
Reply#3 - Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:10 PM EST
{"commentId":1180070,"authorDomain":"silkmesh"}
Babel Fish

Op's sorry was that the delete key?

These are the people that want to keep data on everybody and now we are told their lousy in data collection.

No they have somethink to hide, but you the citizen could not not hide anything if these people had their way.

{"commentId":1180070,"threadId":"175088","contentId":"1092009","authorDomain":"silkmesh"}
  • 6 votes
Reply#4 - Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:30 PM EST
{"commentId":1180077,"authorDomain":"Missy2"}
Kathleen54

The Bush Administration may have deliberately ignored standards set by the Federal Records Act? Is anybody really surprised?

{"commentId":1180077,"threadId":"175088","contentId":"1092009","authorDomain":"Missy2"}
  • 8 votes
Reply#5 - Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:31 PM EST
{"commentId":1180113,"authorDomain":"listenup"}
listentothis

Maybe the White House just doesn't have a good spam filter and they deleted the five million messages.

{"commentId":1180113,"threadId":"175088","contentId":"1092009","authorDomain":"listenup"}
  • 4 votes
Reply#6 - Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:42 PM EST
{"commentId":1180130,"authorDomain":"webquack"}
WebQuack Studios.

It would probably take an army of crypto experts years to decipher any emails written by the president....

{"commentId":1180130,"threadId":"175088","contentId":"1092009","authorDomain":"webquack"}
  • 4 votes
Reply#7 - Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:47 PM EST
{"commentId":1180194,"authorDomain":"douglasq"}
douglasq

I had a teacher in high school who joked that she was a member of DENSA.

Diversely Educated, Not Seriously Affected.

Whenever I remember that Bush attended Yale, I think of her joke.

{"commentId":1180194,"threadId":"175088","contentId":"1092009","authorDomain":"douglasq"}
  • 3 votes
#7.1 - Mon Nov 12, 2007 8:07 PM EST
Reply
{"commentId":1180179,"authorDomain":"douglasq"}
douglasq

It's about time!

I know legal matters take a long time but really...how long ago did this start?!

{"commentId":1180179,"threadId":"175088","contentId":"1092009","authorDomain":"douglasq"}
  • 4 votes
Reply#8 - Mon Nov 12, 2007 8:02 PM EST
{"commentId":1181188,"authorDomain":"ISPY"}
I SPY

heh heh :) I cant wait to see them :) the mails and the execs squirm when they hit the NYT

Those yellow flowers were provided by Monsanto, and are known as Bloommin Miracle Marigolds and will still bloom even under 4 ft of snow. *grins*

{"commentId":1181188,"threadId":"175088","contentId":"1092009","authorDomain":"ISPY"}
  • 2 votes
Reply#9 - Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:14 AM EST
{"commentId":1181732,"authorDomain":"damiankd"}
DamianKD
However, the Office of Administration has been taking steps to maintain and preserve backup tapes for the official e-mail system.

Isn't that why they were using the RNC email system in the first place? (emphasis mine)

{"commentId":1181732,"threadId":"175088","contentId":"1092009","authorDomain":"damiankd"}
    Reply#10 - Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:04 PM EST
    {"commentId":1182554,"authorDomain":"Missy2"}
    Kathleen54

    DENSA, excellent. :-)

    {"commentId":1182554,"threadId":"175088","contentId":"1092009","authorDomain":"Missy2"}
      Reply#11 - Tue Nov 13, 2007 4:10 PM EST
      {"commentId":1183206,"authorDomain":"alphadog"}
      Alpha Dog

      I like the listentothis's spam theory. Seems completely in sync with the Bush administration.

      {"commentId":1183206,"threadId":"175088","contentId":"1092009","authorDomain":"alphadog"}
        Reply#12 - Tue Nov 13, 2007 8:26 PM EST
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