White House log is secret for now

A federal judge agreed to let the Bush administration keep secret the lists of visitors to the White House until an appeals court decides whether the documents are public records.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth granted the White House request five days after ordering the Secret Service to turn over the records to a liberal watchdog group that sought them under the Freedom of Information Act.

Visitor records are created by the Secret Service, which is subject to the public records law. The Bush administration ordered the data be turned over to the White House, where it is outside the scope of the records law.