Obama White House has turned stonewalling into an art form.

The Wall Street Journal editorializes today that the Obama Administration is

the least transparent Administration in history.

The House Oversight Committee on Tuesday began a two-day hearing into the extraordinary ways the Obama Administration keeps undermining the Freedom of Information Act. Enacted in 1966, FOIA allows anyone to request information about any matter from a federal agency. The agency has 20 business days to respond (10 more in unusual circumstances), and the bar is set deliberately high for what government may withhold or redact.

Most Administrations play games with FOIA, but the Obama White House has turned stonewalling into an art form. A favorite tactic is to ignore or string out the requests. That’s what State did in Mrs. Clinton’s case, claiming it simply couldn’t get around to issuing her emails until next year. A court order was needed to get it to move, and that’s typical across the Administration.

FOIA request backlogs have more than doubled since President Obama took office.

...Another trick is to impose sky-high fees.

...Most disturbing are examples of destroying or hiding information.

...Congressional investigators have found examples of Obama officials excessively redacting information, or inappropriately shielding it from FOIA disclosure.

...President Obama famously vowed to run the “most transparent” Administration in history. Instead he has presided over one that has systematically abused a law intended to assist public disclosure and keep government accountable.