Ruling a setback for White House on visitor logs

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court has set back the White House’s efforts to keep secret the names of its visitors.

The Washington court threw out the government’s appeal in the case in which a liberal watchdog group is trying to find out how often prominent religious conservatives visited the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney’s residence.

Despite today’s ruling against the White House, the decision does not necessarily mean that visitor logs will be subject to public disclosure.

The White House can still raise a variety of legal arguments in an attempt to keep the identities of White House visitors secret.