- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A
federal judge has ordered Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force
to explain the constitutional argument behind its refusal to release
details
of its meetings, a group suing for the records said on Friday.
-
- The White House has acknowledged that representatives
of failed energy-trading giant Enron Corp. were among industry experts
the task force met with last year while it was formulating the Bush
administration's
energy policy.
-
- But the administration has refused to release other
details
of the task force's operation, such as the names of people it consulted,
saying this would harm the president's constitutional right to get candid
advice.
-
- U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan on Thursday ordered
the energy task force to explain this argument by next Tuesday as part
of a case brought by Judicial Watch, a public interest law firm.
-
- Judicial Watch filed suit last July against the National
Energy Policy Development Group that was chaired by Cheney, demanding the
administration release records on who the task force met and when, and
minutes of the meetings held.
-
- "This order shows the court is taking our case very
seriously," Larry Klayman, chairman and general counsel of the group,
told Reuters.
-
- There was no immediate reaction from the White
House.
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- GAO ALSO INTENDS TO SUE
-
- The General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative
arm, said this week it also would file a lawsuit for energy task force
records, setting up a possible constitutional clash between the executive
and legislative branches before the third branch of government, the
courts.
-
- But the GAO has scaled back its demands and is no longer
seeking minutes of the task force meetings. Judicial Watch, arguing for
transparency in government, has maintained its demand for minutes and
notes.
-
- Sullivan, in an order handed down on Thursday and
released
by Judicial Watch, said the task force's lawyers had provided
"insufficient
guidance to the court to analyze the constitutional concerns implicated
by potential discovery in this case."
-
- Accordingly, he ordered that by close of business Tuesday
the task force lawyers should file a brief explaining "in what way
would allowing limited discovery into the ... specific types of information
and documents violate Article II of the United States Constitution."
Article II states the president's powers.
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- Sullivan asked Judicial Watch to respond to the administration's arguments by Feb. 8. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Feb. 12.
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- Judicial Watch is widely described as a conservative
watchdog group, and it dogged the administration of former President Bill
Clinton in court for years.
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- Two environmental groups are also seeking the Cheney
energy task force records in court. The Natural Resources Defense Council
filed suit against the Energy Department in December, and the Sierra Club
filed a lawsuit last week.
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