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Court Smacks Down Bush Administration in White House Emails Case
The Bush administration suffered a major legal defeat on Monday when a federal court denied the administration's motion to dismiss a lawsuit that has arisen from the possible loss of several million White House emails. The ruling allows the plaintiffs in the case, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the National Security Archive (NSA), to move forward with their legal efforts to force the recovery of the missing emails and the adoption of a more reliable email archiving system.
Meredith Fuchs, the NSA's general counsel, says the White House's pending motion to dismiss had been a "hold up" that prevented anything else from happening in the case. "Now that roadblock is gone, so we have the opportunity now to try to take more aggressive action in the case," she says, adding that the litigation will probably "heat up" in the months to come.
The emails in question, which could number in the millions, are from between 2003 and 2005 and could include information about the runup to the war in Iraq and the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson as a covert CIA officer. (Need to catch up? Read our full coverage of the missing White House emails story.)
Despite the plaintiff's victory in this latest ruling, the Bush administration has been largely successful in running out the clock on the emails controversy. The NSA and CREW first filed suit in September 2007, several months after Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman, said she "wouldn't rule out that there were a potential 5 million e-mails lost." It is now a near certainty that the ongoing litigation surrounding the missing emails will not be resolved before the Obama administration takes office in January 2009. When Obama enters the White House, he could continue on the path the Bush administration has set out, or settle the case, as the Clinton administration eventually did when watchdog groups sued over its handling of emails in the 1990s.
The NSA has sued every president since Reagan on the issue of record-keeping. Fuchs, the NSA's general counsel, says Obama could send a positive signal by not adopting the Bush administration's obstructionist attitude with regards to the missing emails. "It's not uncommon for a new administration to change position [on ongoing litigation]," she says. "[Obama] can make clear from day one that his administration is going to be responsible and preserve its records. He can support the National Archives in its effort to restore the records from the Bush White House, so that Congress, the courts, and ultimately the public will be able to learn how decisions were made."
There is some indication already that the Obama administration may consider moving in a different direction related to the record-keeping issue. One of Obama's campaign promises was to "nullify the Bush attempts to make the timely release of presidential records more difficult." Fuchs says this "shows they believe in accountability in the White House." But repealing obscure Bush administration executive orders regarding presidential records would be a far cry from acceding to CREW and NSA's demands for the costly recovery of missing emails and the even-more-costly creation of a functional email archiving system. Mother Jones has asked the Obama press office if the President-elect has plans to continue the Bush administration's legal strategy with regards to the missing emails. We'll let you know what we hear.
Good story. Nice to read some newsy news again, with the campaign behind us.
Ha Ha Ha-Recover lost E-Mails in an Administration that has total control over the E-Mail Providers! If you think what's done in Vegas, stays in Vegas is true, You will love the results that CREW and NSA are going to get from this Ruling! Believe me, Dick Cheney is not Richard Nixon!
Surly you jest!! A court order?? When did Bush start obeying the law?? When did a count order hold any weight with Republicans? Please, be serious. The appropiate headline would be 'Bush Defies Court Order Again-Congress Yawns'.
I work in a brokerage. We are requried by the SEC to keep all e-mails. Every brokerage (ours since 4/03) keeps every e-mail.
Now, White House e-mails I would suggest are far more valuable than brokerage e-mails. This is not a 'costly system' given the nature of data today. Perhaps the writer is preparing us for Obama to ignore this issue?
At any rate, e-mail retention should be par for the course for any rsponsible government body. The Clinton administration had a perfectly adequate (I understand) e-mail archiving system, which Bush dismantled.
So stop making this an 'expensive' or 'obscure' issue.
It amazes me that the left wing democrats/communists complain when the Bush Adminstration promotes the use of wire tapping to keep the country safe from terrorists, yet see no problem with people reading Bush's personal emails.
Unbelievable.
Harry Nads you are a fool. this has nothing to do with Bush's 'personal' emails; it has everything to do with governmental emails. You know; that government 'of the people, by the people, and *for* the people'? It's *our* government; we have *every* right to know how it is conducted.
Oh, and if you really believe that Bush's warrantless wiretapping is keeping the country safer from terrorists than *legal* wiretapping would have, see my first sentence.
Right on, DaveD! We have a right to know under the FOIA.
Yes, I agree excellent story. However it is important to keep the heat up on Obama and to make sure he does not issue any blanket immunity to any or all of the White House. You must write and FOLLOW Through with Obama about IMMUNITY and how important it is NOT to hand any out PERIOD!
More hate from the marcsists. You can try take our guns and you can try to stop the operations of this good man (our great War President) from defending demicracy against the terrorists, now that you have a president who is a muslim. All of the instipid elements of the left, the Isalamists and the communistes seem to be working toward the same goal-the end of democricy through free markets. left wingnut judicial activism strikes again.
Just remember that this is still a center right country. More than half of the country is still in the red zone of Republican. The democrats need to be careful how far they take it to the left, because while George Bush has been slandered by the democrats to the point that some Americans actually believe that he was mistaken about the war, it will eventually come out what a bunch of liars the democrats were, and the Republicans will take back what is theirs. If the democrats aren't careful, they will ruin the country economics through too much regulatorys, and the expensive taxation of the rich, who are responsible for the growth of the economy. We should have privatized Social Security while we had the chance, because it is a disgrace.
Yes Deane, we really should privatize the entire government, just as we have the conduct of war.
Then we'll pay exorbitant mark-ups for everything. Anyone for $100 per load laundry service? That's what we pay private contractors in Iraq.
If you get rid of Social Security, many of us will retire on what the private sector has left us, NOTHING!
What can we expect from someone who can't even spell Marxist.
Does this mean that the Bush Administration has erased all the e-mails it illegally intercepted from American Citizens over the last eight years?
Deane- The country has just turned center left, if you haven't noticed. Obama is not a muslim, your comment is filled with hate speech and you should find a better place to spew your propaganda, no one here will buy it.
Radline wrote:
"The country has just turned center left, if you haven't noticed." Au Contrare, mone amy. You prove my point exactly, radline. This was only one election. It was the climate of fear created by the democrats, though actually few in number compared to the number of people in the U.S. who actually believe in Republican values. One election and your party feels like it has a mandate. No. A mandate was what President Bush had in 2004 after overwhelming victory at the polls. This was a reaction to fear, which is how the democrats win all of their elections, through name calling and negative adds. For the good of the country, please do not go too far tot he left. As Palin said at the governor's dinner the other night, 'the republicans need to keep the democrats honest,' through advice and patronage until the democrats are mature enough to actually make these decisions on their own. If the democrats don't listen to those who know better than they, then they are going to find themselves in trouble at the polls again, because the majority of Americans do not agree with the far left which has hijacked the party. The party of Lincoln is the Republican party, don't forget that. Our party knows how to lead for all americans.
Deane
Do us all a favor and don't speak/type. You have an even far less command of the French language than you do of the English language. Spelling and grammar aside, you are the poster boy example of how the Bush administration deceived, mislead and LIED to the American people for the last 8 years. The actions of the Executive Office for the past 8 years have EXCEEDED criminal behavior, which, of course, is why they want to hide it. You, my friend have been duped. Go "learn yerself some edjakation", and THEN get back to the rest of us when you will no longer embarrass our country in a public forum.
Dear eab1969,
Oh, and you're so much better with your "even far less command," and how do you EXCEEDED criminal behavior, by having super criminal behavior? You can't even spell yourself and education. It isn't yerself and it isn't edjukation. You must be from the city where the democrats are in charge of the schools.
"It amazes me that the right wing Republicans/Fascists "applaud" when the Bush Administration promotes the use of wire tapping to supposedly keep the country safe from terrorists, yet see no problem with Bush's "Gestapo" reading our personal emails"............. Unbelievable. See how easy it is to turn the tables on a clueless Repukelican mouthpiece? Just change the names and plug-in the proper jingoistic phrase and !VOILA! instant right-wing propaganda.
Gotcha "Harry Nads"!
BE A CLUELESS SUCKER FOR THE RICH/FASCISTS...........VOTE REPUBLICAN!
P.S.- I also took the liberty of correcting your spelling. So not only are you a clueless Repukelican mouthpiece..........you're also illiterate. Check and Mate!
MY POOR DELUSIONAL "deane"!
You and your ilk became OFFICIALLY irrelevant on Nov.4, 2008! The fact that you refused to notice the extinction of your dinosaur ideologies and the reality of the political environment in the "21st" century comes as NO surprise to the vast majority of American electorate who have wised-up and moved forward into a NEW era of rationality and understanding.
My advice to you in your moment of fear and ignorance would be this..............sit-down, shut-up and let the intelligent adults take care of things from now on. You and your Puppet-Masters have done enough damage so far.
Your total lack of political acumen is only exceeded by your complete inability to recognize "sarcasm" when it is used against you by posters like "eab1969". It's hard to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person. TOUCHE!