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Friday, August 30, 2013
Court Ruling:Obama Can Keep Log Of WH Visitors From The Public
You only thought the White House belonged to the American people!
The Federal DC Circuit Court ruled today that President Obama and his staff need not make public the White House visitor logs as public information.
Judicial Watch a government watchdog nonprofit had brought suit to force the release of all of the White House visitor logs under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA),which would have provided an interesting window into the question people are increasingly asking about the president and his team in the light of a number of scandals that have come to light; what did he know and when did he know it.
The ruling was 3-0. The court said the president is not covered by the FOIA (something these judges pulled out of their nether regions because there's nothing in the FOIA that says he isn't) and because of "special policy considerations". The ruling would keep the visitor records confidential for up to 12 years after President Obama leaves office. That, by the way, would quash the majority of any criminal charges that might result from President Obama's tenure for him and his staff.
Judicial Watch is mulling over whether to appeal.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton was extremely disappointed by the decision, saying "a president that doesn't want Americans, under law, to know who his visitors are is a president who doesn't want to be accountable. The appellate court decision punches another hole in the Freedom of Information Act, the law which allows Americans to know what their government is up to."
Fitton's group is considering filing an appeal, which would be to the Supreme Court. There is no guarantee that the high court would accept the case.
"The legal gymnastics in this unprecedented decision shows that President Obama is not only one willing rewrite laws without going through Congress. And this legal fight, in which President Obama is fighting tooth and nail full disclosure under law of his White House visitors, further exposes his big lie that his administration is the most transparent in history. The silver lining is that at least the appellate court opened up the records of tens of thousands of White House visits that Obama was trying to keep secret," Fitton said.
The White House has always been regarded as The People's House. Barack Obama, regardless of what he may think is just a temporary occupant.
Here is a President whom routinely spies on his fellow Americans and uses that data to harasses his political opponents, yet he has the unmitigated gall to insist on secrecy when it comes to whom he and his staff meet with. Transparency? What is it that he doesn't want the American people to know?
Maybe they can appeal to a court that isn't full of Obama appointees.
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