Group Files Suit Over Release of Clinton Records

With the return of the Clintons, so too comes the return of the Clinton-watchers -- in particular Judicial Watch, the oversight group that has made badgering the couple one if its central badges of honor.

Judicial Watch has filed suit in federal court to require the National Archives to release thousands of pages of papers from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's years as First Lady. The group had filed a Freedom of Information request in 2006, and so far the archives has failed to respond to the request, Judicial Watch said. The organization has asked for records that include Clinton's telephone logs and daily schedules.

Clinton's papers have become the subject of heated debate in recent weeks, as the candidate faced a question about her material -- and seemed to contradict a directive from her husband, who in 2002 wrote a letter suggesting archivists consider correspondence between him and his wife for withholding. Thousands of documents from Clinton's time in the White House -- an era she points to when discussing her experience to be president - remain under lock and key.

"We're asking the court to ensure that the law is followed and that these records are released without improper interference from the Clintons," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in filing suit. "There's no reason we should not see these records in early 2008."

--Anne E. Kornblut