November 01, 2011 | Case

Judicial Watch v. National Energy Policy Development Group, et al.

Cheney Energy Task Force

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 nation’s 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.Unfortunately, on May 9, 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the Vice President’s Energy Task Force did not have to comply with the Federal Advisory Act. Given the importance of the legal issues involved, and the string of court victories earned by Judicial Watch, this was still a battle worth fighting.