Judicial Watch Sues Obama Over Transparency Failure

Judicial Watch, a non-profit organization with the slogan “Because no one is above the law” has files a federal lawsuit against Barack Obama.

The lawsuit, Judicial Watch v. United States Secret Service, is a result of the Obama administration refusing to respond to requests made by Judicial Watch under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  The FOIA is a set of federal laws which require the government to operate transparently.

The information in question are visitor logs to the White House. The administration claims  that these visitor logs are exempt from the FOIA because they are not agency records.  This claim has been repeatedly rejected by federal courts, so the Obama administration is clearly attempting to buy time and release the data at some point in the future when it will be less politically damaging.

Why would the Obama administration be fighting to keep it’s visitor logs secret from the American people?  Why would they have fought so hard to prevent the White House social secretary from being subpeonad?

The answer seems fairly clear — the White House has been dealing with people whom it is embarrassed to be associated with.  This might be someone we already know about, like ACORN, Bill Ayers, or Reverend Wright.  Or, it might be a new association which the administration wishes to hide from the American people.

Whoever it is, we will find out eventually.  There can be no long-term secrets in an organization as poorly managed as the Obama White House.