| For Immediate Release Dec 15, 2003 |
Contact: Press Office 202-646-5188 |
Judicial Watch Will Argue Before the High Court For “Open Government” And That the Vice President is Not “Above the Law” (Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, announced that the U.S. Supreme Court will consider its case against Vice President Cheney regarding the secret records from his controversial Energy Task Force. The Supreme Court accepted the case after the Vice President lost his appeal of a lower court decision directing him to respond to discovery requests by Judicial Watch about the membership of the Task Force. Vice President Cheney maintains that he does not have to respond to Judicial Watch’s discovery – and does not even have to invoke “executive privilege” – arguing that he is immune from such lawsuits. The Vice President’s unprecedented claim of immunity already has been rejected by three courts. Judicial Watch was forced to file its lawsuit in 2001 under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (open meetings law) after it was rebuffed in its requests for information on the Energy Task Force by Vice President Cheney. Judicial Watch sought information concerning the identities of the Task Force participants, how the Task Force operated, and the role of the Vice President in the Task Force. Several months later, the Energy Task Force also was sued by Sierra Club, which is now a co-plaintiff in Judicial Watch’s lawsuit. “I am confident that the Supreme Court will reject the Bush Administration’s unprecedented assertion of unchecked executive power,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. In addition its Energy Task Force lawsuit, Judicial Watch’s fight against government secrecy includes its recent lawsuit to open the sealed records of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. | |