A letter President Clinton wrote in 2002, which he has touted as speeding the release of his White House records and which critics have complained is slowing disclosure of politically sensitive papers about Senator Clinton’s tenure as first lady, may not have had much impact at all, according to an attorney who specializes in the area.

“It’s a funny letter in some ways,” the lawyer, Scott Nelson of the Public Citizen Litigation Group, told The New York Sun. “It starts off saying, ‘I want to be really open about this stuff,’ but, you know, if you compare the categories that he says would be considered for withholding … they encompass most of what is within the scope of these restrictions.”

One of the moderators of a Democratic presidential candidates’ debate last week, Timothy Russert of NBC News, questioned Mrs. Clinton about the letter.

RELATED: A Copy of the Letter (pdf)

Mr. Clinton called the questions “breathtakingly misleading.” A spokeswoman for Mr. Russert replied that his questions were “entirely on the mark.”

In the letter, dated November 6, 2002, Mr. Clinton said he “would like to ease for review and processing purposes the application of two of the restrictions” former presidents can request under the Presidential Records Act for 12 years after leaving office. One restriction category pertains to records “relating to appointments to Federal office.” The other includes “confidential communications requesting or submitting advice, between the president and his advisers, or between such advisers.”

As regards appointments, the former president said only “clearly confidential personal information” such as social security numbers, prior salary details, medical data should be considered for withholding, as well as “negative” or “derogatory” information about potential appointees.

“There’s no point in hurting somebody’s feelings if something has no public interest attached,” Mr. Clinton said Friday, according to the Web site of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

As regards advice, Mr. Clinton’s letter told the archives to consider withholding eight categories of information, including records relating to legal matters such as independent counsel investigations, foreign policy, and some communications involving the president, the first lady, the vice presidents, former presidents and vice presidents, and their families.

The provision that specifically mentions Mrs. Clinton in the letter only appears to apply to communications directly between her and Mr. Clinton or family members, and not to advice she got from others, instructions she gave to her staff, or suggestions she made to Mr. Clinton’s aides.

Nevertheless, Mr. Nelson, who has testified before Congress about the Presidential Records Act and pursued a lawsuit challenging President Bush’s executive order revising the review process, said he believes the letter would not alter the treatment of “99.44% of what the [advice] restriction category applies to in the first place.” Mr. Nelson pointed to a vague provision in Mr. Clinton’s letter that said the archives should consider withholding records about “a sensitive policy, personal, or political matter.” “What’s ‘sensitive’ that wouldn’t be ‘confidential?'” Mr. Nelson asked. “This letter doesn’t help the archives very much.”

In 2003, an archives official, Nancy Smith, told the Associated Press that she expected the letter would lead to more records about Mr. Clinton’s White House being released sooner than was the case with other presidencies. A spokeswoman for the archives did not respond to phone and e-mail messages seeking comment for this article.

Mr. Clinton’s 2002 letter was not the final word on what records should be withheld. The final decision is made by the archives after a notice of the proposed releases is sent to Mr. Clinton’s representative, Bruce Lindsey. “Bill Clinton has not blocked the release of a single document from his library,” Mr. Lindsey said Friday.

A spokesman for Mr. Clinton, Jay Carson, said yesterday that Mr. Nelson’s “99.44%” prediction was unsupportable based on the “broad categories” in the 2002 letter.

In a related development, a Bush administration official said yesterday that the White House recently cleared “a small number of documents” from the Clinton Library for public release. The official, who asked not to be named, did not identify the subject of the records, but Mr. Clinton has said none of the requests pending presidential review pertain to Mrs. Clinton.