Where are the White House emails that disappeared during President Bush's administration? Who knows? Regardless, now the White House has an additional shield in dealing with this issue. A federal appeals court ruled that the White House does not have to make public internal documents looking into the potential disappearance of the Bush emails.

In the ruling, the court said on Tuesday that the White House Office of Administration is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. And that means the documents about the missing email will remain secret. It's a complicated ruling and one that will impact other government agencies and offices that assist the president or his immediate staff.

Because the Office of Administration does not perform "tasks other than operational and administrative support for the President and his staff, we conclude that [it] lacks substantial independent authority and is therefore not an agency under FOIA," wrote Judge Thomas B. Griffith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed the suit against the White House to open up the documents to the public's eye. CREW's executive director, Melanie Sloan, said her organization is unlikely to appeal the ruling, but she said her group and others like it recently sent a letter to the Obama administration urging it to apply freedom-of-information laws to the Office of Administration.

"Transparency and accountability start at home," Sloan said.

For more about the White House email controversy:
- check out this Washington Post article