Court Orders Discovery In Crew Lawsuit Against White House Office

[cal04]

COURT ORDERS DISCOVERY IN CREW LAWSUIT AGAINST WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION
Today, District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued an order allowing Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) to conduct limited discovery in the case of CREW v. Office of Administration (OA).

In this lawsuit CREW is seeking documents that the OA prepared assessing the scope of the missing White House email problem and its proposed recovery plan. The administration has taken the position that the OA is not an agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), despite responding to FOIA requests in the past.

CREW argued that discovery was necessary to determine whether the OA is indeed an agency as defined by federal law, and the court agreed.

The court ordered the parties to submit a discovery plan by February 21, 2008.

The order is available on the right.
http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/30976
http://www.citizensforethics.org/files/Feb%2011%202008%20Court%20Order.pdf


Judge OKs White House e-mail probe
A federal judge agreed Monday to allow a private group to delve into the operations of an office at the White House as part of a controversy over whether large amounts of e-mail have disappeared.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-02-11-whitehouse-email_N.htm

[gratuitous]

1. SOMEBODY ougtha be looking into this

If Congress isn't going to get snooping (remember how every tree they looked up into had something in it - seems so very long ago now, doesn't it?) into this administration's corruption, let's see some private citizens' groups doing Congress' job. I'm willing to bet that CREW won't let their subpoenas go unanswered and barely acknowledged.

[jtrockville]

2. If CREW's case is dismissed, then it's OK to violate the PRA?

Because no one has authority to enforce it?

[williesgirl]

3. Thank you Judge. This is step #1. rec'd

[annabanana]

4. kicking, because it's too easy to miss. . . .n/t

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

5. February 21, 2008.

Game. Set. Match.

[cal04]

6. Judge OKs inquiry of White House techs

A federal judge agreed Monday to allow a private group to delve into the operations of an office at the White House as part of a controversy over whether large amounts of e-mail have disappeared.

Permitting any private organization to inquire into White House functions is an unusual step, a point U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly underscored in her six-page order.

The judge said she will allow Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington to gather a "very limited" amount of information from the White House Office of Administration, which is in charge of preserving e-mail.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23125771/