A U.S. magistrate on Friday rejected arguments by the Bush administration and urged a federal judge to <A HREF="http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/19/whitehouse.email.ap/index.html">order the White House to preserve copies of all its emails.</A> U.S. Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola said it is necessary to hold out the threat of a contempt-of-court citation to ensure that White House personnel safeguard backup tapes of electronic messages that may have been deleted. Whether to issue the order is up to U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy.

The Bush administration has 10 days to say why Kennedy should not order preservation of electronic communications by White House officials and aides.