President Obama pledged on his first day in office to have the most open and transparent administration in history. His first executive order directed federal departments and agencies to release all documents when requested except under the narrowest exemptions allowed by the Freedom of Information Act. In theory, that was great, but in practice, it was anything but.

There is, of course, a long history of struggle between presidents and Congress over access to executive branch documents. Until recent years, most such disputes have been settled through prudent compromise between the branches. But for several decades now, presidents of both parties have increasingly claimed the separation of powers doctrine embedded in the Constitution lets them withhold steadily more documents from congressional oversight. And since the 2010 election, the Obama administration has refused to turn over thousands of documents sought by Congress concerning the Fast and Furious scandal, the Toxic Asset Recovery Program, and green-energy bankruptcies like Solyndra.