WASHINGTON - White House visitor logs are public documents and cannot be hidden from the public, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled today, in a defeat for President Bush, who sought to keep secret the records visits of religious conservatives to the White House. Judge Lamberth ruled in a case brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which argued, successfully, that the Bush administration's order that the Secret Service, which keeps the logs, hand them over to the White House, does not make the records exempt from pubic records requests. Lambert's ruling also covers visits to Vice President Dick Cheney's residence. See ruling.
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