In Washington, U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy, a Clinton appointee, ordered the Executive Office of the President to maintain backup tapes of its e-mails, which the White House has resisted. It stopped archiving e-mails in 2003.

The White House must save copies of all its e-mails, a federal judge has ruled in response to two lawsuits attempting to determine whether Bush administration officials destroyed millions of records illegally.

The Federal Records Act prohibits destruction of government documents unless the U.S. archivist approves.

Two groups — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government and the National Security Archive — have accused the Oval Office of deleting of 5 million e-mails. The concern emerged during the investigation of who leaked Valerie Plame's CIA identity to reporters.

Here's more from the Associated Press.