(Washington, DC)  Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption,  expressed disappointment with the a federal appeals court decision today that Vice President Cheney and the National Energy Policy Development Group (NEPDG) is not subject to the federal open meetings law.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that, despite numerous reports of outsiders participating in the NEPDG, Judicial Watch did not have the right to seek information concerning the identities and activities of these outside parties.

Judicial Watch brought a lawsuit against Mr. Cheney and the NEPDG in 2001 after it was denied access to meetings and documents of the Energy Task Force. The suit was filed under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), or open meetings law, following a number of reports that lobbyists and energy company officials participated in the task force’s deliberations.

A U.S. District Court ordered the Vice President and the NEPDG to respond to Judicial Watch’s discovery requests for records and information about the Energy Task Force meetings, including the names of participants.  The Bush administration refused to comply.  After the Appellate Court refused to intervene, the administration appealed the U.S. Supreme Court, which last April refused to dismiss the case, but sent it back to the Appellate Court for further review.

The Appellate Court today ruled against any discovery related to the make up of the Energy Task Force or its committees and dismissed the suit.  According to the court, the open meetings law does not apply even if an outsider participates in or influences an advisory committee, but only if the outsider actually “votes” as a member of the committee or “vetoes” the committee’s recommendations.  The court further ruled that statements provided by administration officials were sufficient evidence, by themselves, to conclude that no outsiders voted on or vetoed the task force’s recommendation on energy policy.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said, “The court’s ruling is without any basis in the text of the open meetings law and is contrary to the intent of the law, which is to allow broad public participation in certain types of meetings between government officials and private lobbyists.  Further, it means that, going forward, the public will simply have to take the word of the government that no outsiders are improperly influencing the decisions of their government.

“The American people have a right to know whether lobbyists became de facto members of the Energy Task Force, which helped to write our nation’s energy policies.  Today’s decision means that now the public may never know the truth about how these policies were formulated.”