|
Bush Administration Holds on to Cheney Secrets Will Ask For Supreme Court Hearing Washington, DC: In yet another tactic designed to delay the Sierra Club's suit against the secret Cheney Energy Task Force, the Bush Administration today filed papers with U.S. Court Appeals announcing that they will ask the Supreme Court to review the case. "At some point, the Bush Administration is going to have to realize that the American people want to know what kind of influence energy corporations had over America's energy policies," said David Bookbinder, senior attorney for the Sierra Club. "President Bush is today touting a plan to weaken clean air standards for power plants. And he's promoting an energy bill largely inspired by these secret meetings. The public deserves to know who actually wrote these plans." In July, a three judge panel of the Court of Appeals said the Bush Administration is subject to "discovery," and must comply with requests for information from Sierra Club and Judicial Watch about the Cheney Energy Task Force. These groups are suing the Administration to shed light on how much influence polluting industries had over the Administration's destructive energy policy that is the basis for the energy bill currently before Congress. In rejecting the government's arguments, the Court noted that the Administration's position would "transform executive privilege from a doctrine designed to protect presidential communications into virtual immunity from suit." The Bush Administration attempted to further delay releasing information about the secret meetings by asking for a rehearing of the appeal by the entire court. The Court of Appeals last week denied their request by a 5-3 vote. The Bush Administration today asked the Appeals Court to issue a stay of the case until the Supreme Court decides whether to hear it. Sierra Club is suing Vice President Cheney and the Energy Task Force under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), seeking an accounting of energy industry participation in crafting the Bush Administration's destructive energy policy, which relies on subsidies to polluting and outdated fossil fuel industries. The District Court ordered the Administration to provide information about participation from these industries, which the Bush Administration refused to do, claiming Constitutional immunity from such inquiries. The District Court rejected that contention, pointing out that the Administration was attempting to "cloak what is tantamount to an aggrandizement of Executive power with the legitimacy of precedent where none exists." The Administration appealed, asking the D.C. Circuit to make new law that would effectively shield it from any legal scrutiny. The Circuit Court and Appeals Court have now twice denied their request. ### |
