Government Seeks New Ruling in Cheney Case

The Bush administration asked an appeals court Wednesday to overrule a federal judge and allow the White House to keep secret any records of visitors to Vice President Dick Cheney's residence and office.

To make the visitor records public would be an "unprecedented intrusion into the daily operations of the vice presidency," the Justice Department argued in a 57-page brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia.

The government was responding to an October order, by U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina, to release two years of White House visitor logs to The Washington Post. The newspaper, researching the access lobbyists and others had on the White House, sought
Secret Service records for anyone visiting Cheney, his legal counsel, chief spokesman and other top aides and advisers.

In his ruling, Urbina questioned the government's primary argument against releasing the records — that the logs are protected by Cheney's right to executive privilege.

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