Judge: White House can ignore e-mail information requests By Timothy B. Lee Ars Technica June 16, 2008

"A federal judge today sided with the Bush administration in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit related to missing White House e-mails. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly... held that the White House's Office of Administration was not a federal agency as that term is defined by the FOIA and was therefore not obligated to respond to FOIA requests."

"CREW [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington] was seeking internal documents that could reveal the extent of the missing e-mail problem. Not surprisingly, the Bush administration has been reluctant to release those potentially embarrassing records. Indeed, after more than a quarter-century of complying with FOIA requests, last year the Office of Administration announced that it had re-considered its status under FOIA and would no longer comply with FOIA requests."

"The decision is a victory for the White House, but CREW contends that the White House has little to crow about. 'The fact is, until CREW asked for documents pertaining to this problem, the Office of Administration routinely processed FOIA requests,' said executive director Melanie Sloan. 'Only because the administration has so much to hide here, has the White House taken the unprecedented position that OA is not subject to the FOIA.' She vowed to appeal the decision."

Full story: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080616-judge-white-house-can-ignore-email-information-requests.html