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To: MSI who wrote (197573)	10/18/2002 2:16:03 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 436258

Judge Orders Release of Documents Hidden at Presidential Sites 10/18/02 dailyenron.com Mind Your Business, Part 10 They continue to hide relevant documents. They snub their noses at legal mandates to comply. They repeatedly obstruct attempts to verify their claims. Who? Iraq? No - the Bush administration. Yesterday US District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ran out of patience. Judge Sullivan once again ordered the Bush White House to turn over documents that chronicle Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force meetings last year. The administration has been sued several times over the documents - including one case brought by its own General Accounting Office. Federal judges in those other cases have ordered the Energy Department to turn over thousands of pages of many key documents relating to Cheney's meetings with energy firms - including Enron - that were spirited off to the White House for safekeeping. Yesterday's hearing was especially contentious and was marked by several sharp exchanges between Sullivan and Shannen W. Coffin, the Justice Department attorney handling the case for the White House. Coffin has refused to produce the documents being sought by plaintiffs, the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch, stating that having to do so "would impose upon the executive unconstitutional burdens." But, Coffin did not specify precisely what would be unconstitutional, and he specifically did not declare the documents were "privileged." A clearly infuriated Judge Sullivan told Coffin he could not have it both ways. "You have to produce the non-privileged documents and assert the [executive] privilege for those that are," he told Coffin. "You refuse to assert the privilege and won't respond to court orders." Coffin countered by contending that the document request would place an "undue interference" on executive branch operations, and that "the consideration of undue interference requires special treatment by this court in this context." Sullivan wasn't buying it. He set a November 5 deadline for the White House to either cough up the documents or return to the court with a formal declaration of executive privilege. That's when things got really interesting. As the judge was preparing to adjourn the hearing, Coffin asked for an extension. The reason, he said, was that they could not determine what documents might or might not be privileged since they had not inspected them yet. Judge Sullivan hit the roof. "That is a startling revelation!" the judge said twice. "How can you be asserting this is privileged information if you haven't looked at it?" "We haven't completed the review," Coffin said. "We've done enough to know our arguments" are correct, he said. "How could you misspeak on something as significant as that?" Sullivan shouted back. Now Judge Sullivan knows what it's like to be a weapons inspector in Iraq. They continue to hide relevant documents. They snub their noses at legal mandates to comply. They repeatedly obstruct attempts to verify their claims. Who? Iraq? No - the Bush administration. Yesterday US District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ran out of patience. Judge Sullivan once again ordered the Bush White House to turn over documents that chronicle Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force meetings last year. The administration has been sued several times over the documents - including one case brought by its own General Accounting Office. Federal judges in those other cases have ordered the Energy Department to turn over thousands of pages of many key documents relating to Cheney's meetings with energy firms - including Enron - that were spirited off to the White House for safekeeping. Yesterday's hearing was especially contentious and was marked by several sharp exchanges between Sullivan and Shannen W. Coffin, the Justice Department attorney handling the case for the White House. Coffin has refused to produce the documents being sought by plaintiffs, the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch, stating that having to do so "would impose upon the executive unconstitutional burdens." But, Coffin did not specify precisely what would be unconstitutional, and he specifically did not declare the documents were "privileged." A clearly infuriated Judge Sullivan told Coffin he could not have it both ways. "You have to produce the non-privileged documents and assert the [executive] privilege for those that are," he told Coffin. "You refuse to assert the privilege and won't respond to court orders." Coffin countered by contending that the document request would place an "undue interference" on executive branch operations, and that "the consideration of undue interference requires special treatment by this court in this context." Sullivan wasn't buying it. He set a November 5 deadline for the White House to either cough up the documents or return to the court with a formal declaration of executive privilege. That's when things got really interesting. As the judge was preparing to adjourn the hearing, Coffin asked for an extension. The reason, he said, was that they could not determine what documents might or might not be privileged since they had not inspected them yet. Judge Sullivan hit the roof. "That is a startling revelation!" the judge said twice. "How can you be asserting this is privileged information if you haven't looked at it?" "We haven't completed the review," Coffin said. "We've done enough to know our arguments" are correct, he said. "How could you misspeak on something as significant as that?" Sullivan shouted back. Now Judge Sullivan knows what it's like to be a weapons inspector in Iraq.