After releasing more than 4,000 pages relating to presidential pardons issued in the final days of Bill Clinton’s presidency (documents obtained this week through a FOIA request entered in 2006…!), Clinton’s legal counsel announced it would withhold an additional 1,500 pages relating to the pardons.
Clinton’s camp claims the exclusions are permitted by the FOIA’s exemption of documents concerning matters of personal privacy. Plenty of observers disagree with this claim, saying that the clemency documents (many involving people convicted in federal court) are matters of public record.
For his part, while in office Clinton apparently encouraged representatives from his library to facilitate access to presidential records but made specific exceptions for communications with his close staff—a right already afforded to him by the Presidential Records Act of 1978, which seals correspondence between a president and his advisers for 12 years after he leaves office.
