Judicial Watch
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For Immediate Release |
| Sep 4, 2002 |
Contact: Press Office
202-646-5188
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VICE PRESIDENT IN CONTEMPT OF ENERGY TASK FORCE COURT ORDER
Refuses to Produce Documents Concerning Energy Task Force
(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, reported today that Vice President Cheney refused to produce documents pursuant to a federal court order in the ongoing Judicial Watch lawsuit concerning his Energy Task Force. Discovery responses were due from the Vice President yesterday per a court order, yet the Vice President, through Justice Department lawyers, filed a last minute motion for protective order seeking exemption from discovery on “constitutional grounds.” The Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan dismissed these very same arguments last month and ruled that discovery can proceed into the identities of Task Force participants, how the Task Force operated, and the role of the Vice President in the Task Force.
Judicial Watch was forced to file a lawsuit last year under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (open meetings law) after it was rebuffed in its requests for information on the Task Force by Vice President Cheney. Several months later, the Energy Task Force was sued by the Sierra Club, which is now a co-plaintiff in Judicial Watch’s lawsuit.
In dismissing the Vice President’s constitutional arguments, Judge Sullivan had rejected as “mischief” arguments that inquiry into the operations of Task Force would necessarily impinge on the President’s constitutional powers. The Court said the Bush Administration’s “stunning” arguments “fly in the face of precedent” and are a “problematic and unprecedented assertion...of Executive Power.”
“Judge Sullivan made it clear that he would not tolerate this type of gamesmanship. In fact, the Bush-Cheney Justice Department was already admonished by Judge Sullivan for lying to him about the law. And now the Vice President’s shows contempt for the Court’s orders by refusing to produce documents as directed by the court. We will seek sanctions and other appropriate relief for this contempt for the law,” stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman.
A hearing in the matter will take place on September 13, 2002.
Related Documents (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader):
Memorandum in Support of Defendant's Motion for a Protective Order and for Reconsideration
Declaration of Karen Y. Knutson
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