[NYTr] Court Rules Delay in Release of Presidential Papers is Illegal

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

National Security Archive Update, October 1, 2007
http://www.nsarchive.org


COURT RULES DELAY IN RELEASE OF PRESIDENTIAL PAPERS IS ILLEGAL

Fails to Address Authority of Former Vice Presidents to Hold Up
Disclosure of Papers

For more information contact:
Meredith Fuchs - 202/994-7000

Washington D.C., October 1, 2007 - A District Court in the District
of Columbia has ruled that an Executive Order issued by President
George W. Bush in 2001, which severely slowed or prevented the
release of historic presidential papers is, in part, invalid. In a
carefully constructed decision, the court held that the Archivist
of the United States acts arbitrarily, capriciously, and contrary
to law by relying on the Executive Order to delay release of the
records of former presidents. The court did not reach the issue of
whether it was permissible for President Bush to extend the authority
over disclosure of presidential papers to a former president's heirs
or to former vice presidents.

The underlying lawsuit, which was filed in November 2001 by the
National Security Archive and other plaintiffs, challenges President
Bush's Executive Order 13,233 that gave former Presidents and their
heirs (as well as former Vice-Presidents for the first time)
indefinite authority to hold up release of White House records. In
finding that the plaintiffs have standing to pursue the claim, the
court specifically referenced the delays experienced by the National
Security Archive for requests pending at the Ronald Reagan Presidential
Library. As the Archive's Director Thomas Blanton testified in
Congress this past March, those delays have grown from 18 months
in 2001 to "an estimate of 78 months (six and a half years!) [in
2007]."

Archive General Counsel Meredith Fuchs commented, "The court is
enforcing procedural standards, but has avoided the hard questions
about the role former presidents, former vice presidents, and their
heirs can play when it comes to disclosure of presidential records."
She noted, "Unless the Executive Order is reversed or withdrawn,
decisions about the release of records from this administration may
ultimately be made by the Bush daughters."

The decision comes at a time when a bill that would overturn Executive
Order 13,233 is stalled in the U.S. Senate, reportedly due to a
hold placed on the measure by Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY). The bill,
H.R. 1255, was approved in the U.S. House of Representatives on
March 14, 2007 by a vote of 333-93. The White House has threatened
to veto the bill if it is passed in the Senate.

For more information, please visit the Archive Web site:
http://www.nsarchive.org

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