Legal Commentary

Search Still On For Missing White House Emails

By TChris

Remember all those missing emails that the Bush administration claims an inability to find -- even though their preservation is required by the Presidential Records Act? Bush and his cronies were hoping to slink quietly out of the White House, leaving the emails in a state of permanent deletion. A ruling today in a lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics and the National Security Archives might make that more difficult for the departing regime.

U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy today denied the administration's request to dismiss the lawsuit.

Meredith Fuchs, the National Security Archive's general counsel, said that because of the ruling, a court order directing the White House to preserve 65,000 computer backup tapes remains in place.

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Fuchs said that when the Bush administration surrenders its records to the government on Jan. 20, the incoming administration of Barack Obama can "do the right thing here and clean up this mess by ensuring that any missing e-mails are restored from computer backup tapes." ...

Sheila Shadmand, a Washington lawyer representing the National Security Archive, said the ruling enables protection of records "before they get carted off or destroyed as the current administration packs its bags to leave."

Full post as published by TalkLeft on November 10, 2008 (boomark / email).