White House Office of Administration not subject to FOIA

In a lawsuit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the White House Office of Administration is not required to respond to FOIA requests, Politico reported. The group was seeking information about "an archiving failure which allegedly resulted in millions of White House e-mail messages being misfiled or even lost."

The White House's Office of Administration does not have to respond to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in a 3-0 decision this morning.

"Because nothing in the record indicates that [the Office of Administration] performs or is authorized to perform tasks other than operational and administrative support for the President and his staff, we conclude that OA lacks substantial independent authority and is therefore not an agency under FOIA," Judge Thomas Griffith wrote in an opinion joined by Judges David Sentelle and Raymond Randolph.

The setback for transparency advocates came in a lawsuit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington seeking information about an archiving failure which allegedly resulted in millions of White House e-mail messages being misfiled or even lost.

More here.