U.S. judge allows Cheney task force case to proceed
By Lisa Richwine
Friday August 2, 2:43 pm Eastern Time
WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday rejected efforts by the Bush administration to resist handing over documents related to a White House energy task force headed by Vice President Dick Cheney.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan approved a public interest law firm's plan for preliminary fact-finding, which seeks records relating to the workings of the task force and who it met with.
Sullivan gave the U.S. Justice Department 30 days to object or to comply with the request.
"I'm approving the proposed discovery plan the plaintiff has submitted," Sullivan said at a court hearing.
The suit filed by Judicial Watch, and later joined by the environmental group Sierra Club, seeks all records of the Cheney task force in an effort to find out what influence energy companies, including now-bankrupt Enron Corp. (Other OTC:ENRNQ.PK - News), had on policy.
The White House has asserted its right to seek confidential advice in battling a string of lawsuits and congressional requests for information on the task force.
Justice Department lawyers argued in court on Friday that Judicial Watch had not supplied any evidence that non-government employees participated in the task force. This means it is not subject to the federal law on advisory committees cited in the lawsuit, they said.
"Unless plaintiffs are willing to come forward with some shred of evidence that that's not the case, this should be over," Deputy Assistant Attorney General Shannen Coffin told the court.
Sullivan rejected Coffin's arguments. "Under what you are suggesting, no one can conduct a reasonable investigation ... in an effort to determine whether the law was complied with," he said.
Cheney's energy task force produced a policy in May 2001 that called for more oil and gas drilling and a revived nuclear power program. Environmentalists say they were largely shut out of the policy-making.
The task force was appointed by President George W. Bush. Coffin disclosed in court that Cheney "may have invited" Secretary of State Colin Powell to participate.
Larry Klayman, chairman of Judicial Watch, said that raised questions about whether energy policy had influenced Bush's war on terrorism.
"Are we laying off of Saudi Arabia because of the links between the American oil industry and Saudi Arabia? That's the kind of information the American people need to know," Klayman told reporters after the court hearing. |
