JW [and Sierra Club] VICTORY: COURT RULES CHENEY ENERGY TASK FORCE MUST TURN OVER INFORMATION

Judicial Watch ^ | 23 May 2002 | Judicial Watch

[Amelia]

For the Associated Press version, push here.

I can't believe that Judicial Watch has teamed up with the SIERRA CLUB. If nothing else, this should answer the question of whether or not Larry Klayman is really a conservative.

[inkling]

Good thing the White House isnt busy with other, more pressing matters. Like a war or something.

Didn't Larry Klayman once sue his own mother?

[Amelia]

Is Klayman an equal opportunity corruption fighter? Or is he just an opportunist?

[Henchster]

Klayman could sue himself, and hold TWO press conferences claiming Constitutional righteousness and victory.

[Amelia]

Didn't Larry Klayman once sue his own mother?

Yes, he did. See how principled he is? He doesn't discriminate at all!

[sinkspur]

I can't believe that Judicial Watch has teamed up with the SIERRA CLUB.

I can. It's a whole new target-rich fundraising environment.

And, the more it's appealed, the more letters he'll crank out.

There is no downside to a Klayman lawsuit, for Klayman, because it's not about winning.

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

If nothing else, this should answer the question of whether or not Larry Klayman is really a conservative.

Yes, it should. What kind of conservative would find comfort in the company of Sierra Club? How embarrassing it must be for JW's loyal supporters to whom Larry still clings.

[Howlin]

Hold the phone:

Larry says: JW VICTORY: COURT RULES CHENEY ENERGY TASK FORCE MUST TURN OVER INFORMATION

But the actual article says:

Sullivan said he may require that any material from the Cheney panel be turned over to him instead of to the private groups until he decides whether there is a legal basis for the case to proceed.

Larry left that part out it appears.

[deport]

The AP article.....

Judge Won't Kill Cheney Energy Suits
Thu May 23, 3:34 PM ET

By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - A judge on Thursday rebuffed a Bush administration effort to kill lawsuits aimed at revealing the inner workings of Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites)'s energy task force.

Photos AP Photo

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said he will allow the private groups Judicial Watch and the Sierra Club (news - web sites) to take the first step in delving into the operations of the task force.

Run by Cabinet heads, the Cheney panel directed federal agencies in writing a plan last year that focused on expanding energy production — a position favored by the industry.

Sullivan said he may require that any material from the Cheney panel be turned over to him instead of to the private groups until he decides whether there is a legal basis for the case to proceed.

The administration maintains that only government employees were members of the task force, which disbanded last year. But the conservative group Judicial Watch alleges that former Enron chairman Ken Lay and lobbyists Mark Racicot, Haley Barbour and Thomas Kuhn were members.

Racicot is now Republican National Committee (news - web sites) chairman. The ex-Enron chairman and the three current and former lobbyists are defendants in the Judicial Watch case, with which the Sierra Club lawsuit has been combined.

Outside the courtroom, Alex Levinson of the Sierra Club said that "if Enron wrote part of the White House's energy policy, we want to know about it." The White House has acknowledged half a dozen meetings between Enron and Cheney or his aides on the task force.

Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch said the administration's strategy is to "run out the clock" and to fight disclosing the people the task force met with until the public has moved onto other issues.

The Cheney plan, which favors oil and gas drilling on public land and rejuvenating nuclear power, provided the starting point for wide-ranging energy legislation currently before Congress.

In several tense exchanges with the judge during a three-hour hearing, Justice Department (news - web sites) lawyer Shannen Coffin insisted Sullivan had ample basis to throw out the lawsuits. Coffin cited President Bush (news - web sites)'s written directive saying he was creating the Cheney task force in order to advise him on national energy policy.

Coffin said top aides are entitled to provide advice on a confidential basis to the president. Coffin also said the lawsuits are moot because the task force no longer exists.

Judicial Watch and the Sierra Club maintain that Cheney's panel is subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which is designed to open government panels in the executive branch to public scrutiny. The idea behind the law is that public disclosure would counteract lobbying by special interests.

The judge did knock out one basis for the lawsuits against Cheney and the task force. But the question of whether Cheney and the task force were subject to the advisory committee act remains.

More legal .....

[Zeroisanumber]

Yeah! If Klayman were a REAL conservative he would only investigate charges of corruption against Democrats, thereby ruining any credibility that his organization has!

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

FYI bump

[Howlin]

Whoops AGAIN!!!

Larry says: COURT: JUDICIAL WATCH LAWSUIT CAN PROCEED CONCERNING ENERGY TASK FORCE MEETINGS BUSH ADMINISTRATION LOSES COURT EFFORT TO DISMISS LAWSUIT

But the article says:

Top Stories | AP | Reuters | The New York Times | USA TODAY | NPR

Judge Allows Fact-Finding in Cheney Energy Case
Thu May 23, 6:16 PM ET

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge on Thursday refused to dismiss a lawsuit seeking records of the White House energy task force and will allow preliminary fact-finding in the case despite U.S. Justice Department (news - web sites) objections.

The decision marked another setback for the Bush administration's attempts to keep secret the inner workings of the task force, headed by Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites), that produced the administration's energy policy last year.

The White House is asserting its right to seek confidential advice in battling a string of lawsuits and congressional requests for information on the task force and its contacts with now-bankrupt energy giant Enron Corp., a top Bush campaign donor.

On Wednesday, a Senate panel subpoenaed records of contacts between the White House and Enron, including those on energy policy, and the White House handed over some information revealing dozens of contacts.

But the lawsuit U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan refused to dismiss goes beyond demands for information on connections to Enron, which imploded last year amid revelations about losses from off-the-books partnerships.

Filed by Judicial Watch, a public interest law firm, and later joined by the environmental group the Sierra Club (news - web sites), the lawsuit seeks all records of the Cheney task force in an effort to find out what influence other energy companies -- as well as Enron and its former chief Kenneth Lay -- had on policy.

Justice Department lawyers, arguing the case for the White House, told Sullivan that divulging the task force records would upset White House confidentiality.

The federal law on advisory committees cited by the lawsuit "is not intended to intrude on day-to-day functioning of the president ... It can't justify the substantial intrusion into the president's communications," Deputy Assistant Attorney General Shannen Coffin told the court.

Coffin also urged the judge not to allow pretrial evidence-gathering and fact-finding, saying this could in itself damage the government's case.

"In this case, the plaintiff's end game is discovery. They want to know who met with the president," Coffin said.

But Sullivan refused to throw out the case.

"This case will go forward to discovery, and then the court will be in a better position to address the very complicated, interesting, constitutional arguments that exist in this case," he said.

Sullivan did, however, say he would consider reviewing the discovery evidence himself before deciding what to make part of the case's public record.

Cheney's energy task force produced a policy last May that called for more oil and gas drilling and a revived nuclear power program; environmentalists claim they were largely shut out of the policy-making.

Sullivan, who in February directed the White House to preserve records from meetings of its energy task force, also said he would allow subpoenas to stop record destruction by people and organizations outside the government who may have papers related to the case.

Sierra Club attorneys said they anticipated issuing about six such subpoenas. It was expected that Enron would be among the recipients.

Thousands of the task force documents already have been released under other cases filed under the Freedom of Information Act. But they have come from government agencies and not the White House, and many are heavily redacted.

Congress' watchdog, the General Accounting Office (news - web sites) is also seeking energy task force documents in a separate suit. The Justice Department has moved to dismiss that case as well, saying the GAO has overstepped its legal authority.

[thinktwice]

“devastating defeat” for the Bush Administration

The above was written by those that prevailed in the District Court -- Judicial Watch. They are biased words.

I think Cheney is right in demanding confidentiality about Executive level work. When you're at the top -- where the buck stops -- military style security is necessary in handling confidential, secret and top-secret matters.

[Amelia]

I linked the AP article about this at the top, so that the mainstream media's take on the subject could be compared with JW's press release.....

Although the other article tells us that "The judge did knock out one basis for the lawsuits against Cheney and the task force.", neither article tells us what that basis was. NPR did a short piece on this about 4:10 this afternoon, on All Things Considered, and they said what that basis was, but I can't remember it now.

[anniegetyourgun]

Yes, but it's so much easier to claim victory in advance. eh?

[Howlin]

That's quite an editing job, isn't it?

Yet another car bomb.

[LarryLied]

The ruling, by The Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan. . .

A Clinton judge:

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan
Judge Sullivan was appointed
United States District Judge for the
District of Columbia in July 1994

[D-fendr]

His organization (Larry, Larry and Larry) never had any credibility with me. He's a loose cannon. You can wish it luck when it's pointing at the enemy, but that's about all they support they're worth.

[Amelia]

Thanks for posting the other article, deport. I just can't get over Klayman teaming with the SIERRA CLUB!

The GAO has also filed suit for some of these documents. Press here.

[Bahbah]

Almost anything can survive a motion to dismiss which is made always at the outset as largely a formality.