The Bush administration formed the National Energy Policy Development Group to develop the nation's energy policy in 2001. However, in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, or the open meetings law, as it is better known, the task force refused to turn over information pertaining to who was involved and what was discussed. (This is same law conservatives accused Hillary Clinton of violating when she attempted to launch her secret government takeover of the nation¹s healthcare system in the early 1990s.)

Judicial Watch immediately filed Freedom of Information Act requests and other legal actions to bring the inner workings of the Energy Task Force out in to the open for public scrutiny. When the Bush Administration refused to comply, JW had no choice but to file lawsuits. Since that time, nearly 40,000 pages of documents from agencies such as the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency have been released into the public domain. However, the Bush administration is hanging tight to key information, such as what lobbyists were invited to attend the policy sessions in The White House. It is alleged that Enron¹s Ken Lay was a key participant, along with other high-powered corporate lobbyists and environmental activists.

In a ruling last October in Judicial Watch's case against the task force, Judge Emmet Sullivan lambasted the Bush administration for asserting virtual unlimited executive power in keeping task force records secret, and for its unwillingness to comply with court orders. The appeals court agreed, noting that with its appeal, the Bush Administration was asking the court to transform "executive privilege from a doctrine designed to protect presidential communications into virtual immunity from suit." In a 2-1 decision, the court ruled that focused discovery must now proceed.

"It has been my experience throughout Judicial Watch's nine years that government officials fight transparency only when they have something to hide," said JW Chairman Larry Klayman. "Otherwise, why not simply play by the rules?"