My FOIA response letter from the Secret Service finally arrived (re: their records of when Mineta arrived at the White House). And... It doesn't contain anything useful.
Right now the government is trying to make the case that White House visitor records are Presidential documents, not Secret Service records, and so not subject to the FOIA. There's a court case ongoing about this & they say they'll "respond further to my request if necessary" once the litigation is resolved. So that could be a very long time.
Might be useful to check, though... The case they cite is "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. Dept. of Homeland Security, et al., Civil No. 06-1912, pending in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia". I've Googled for that and come up with some more information, but can any of our legal folks tell us anything more, how the case is going, what might happen next, what appeals are possible and how much longer it might drag on?
Of course there's always the hope that an Obama Presidency might squash some of these things, so as to be immediately seen as more open. If so I might get an answer in just a few months. Here's hoping.
Right now the government is trying to make the case that White House visitor records are Presidential documents, not Secret Service records, and so not subject to the FOIA. There's a court case ongoing about this & they say they'll "respond further to my request if necessary" once the litigation is resolved. So that could be a very long time.
Might be useful to check, though... The case they cite is "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. Dept. of Homeland Security, et al., Civil No. 06-1912, pending in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia". I've Googled for that and come up with some more information, but can any of our legal folks tell us anything more, how the case is going, what might happen next, what appeals are possible and how much longer it might drag on?
Of course there's always the hope that an Obama Presidency might squash some of these things, so as to be immediately seen as more open. If so I might get an answer in just a few months. Here's hoping.