Judge overturns Bush Presidential record secrecy order
In a narrowly crafted ruling, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly invalidated part of President Bush's 2001 executive order, which allowed former presidents and vice presidents to review executive records before they are released under the Freedom of Information Act.
By law, the National Archives has the final say over the release of presidential records and Kollar-Kotelly ruled that Bush's executive order "effectively eliminates" that discretion.
It allows former presidents to delay the release of records "presumably indefinitely," she said.
The judge on Monday ordered the National Archives not to withhold any more documents based on that section of the executive order.
Didn't quite strike down the entire thing, but she gutted the important part. This is something that needed overturned, but it is a little late at this point. One of the reason Bush Jr issued it was to keep people out of Bush Sr records while he was in office, and fixing that problem now doesn't mean much.
Jay