Judge questions Bush request to halt Cheney suit
By the Associated Press (in the Houston Chronicle).
A federal appeals court today questioned the Bush administration’s request to stop a lawsuit delving into Vice President Dick Cheney’s contacts with energy industry executives and lobbyists.
Appeals Judges Harry Edwards and David Tatel suggested the White House had no legal basis for asking them to block a lower court judge from letting the case proceed.
The Bush administration took the unusual step of coming to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the midst of the case.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan has ruled that the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch may be entitled to a limited amount of information about the meetings Cheney and his aides had with the energy industry in formulating the White House’s energy plan.
The plan, adopted four months after President Bush took office, favored opening up public lands to oil and gas drilling and a wide range of other steps backed by industry.
Among the industry executives that the Cheney energy task force has acknowledged meeting with were former Enron Corp. chief executive Ken Lay.
Tatel, an appointee of President Clinton, said the administration has failed to show that it is suffering legal harm at the hands of the lower court. Edwards, a Carter-era appointee, told a government attorney flatly that “you have no authority” to ask the appeals court to intervene in the middle of the lawsuit.
The government is seeking “a modest extension” of a previous court ruling, responded Gregory Katsas, a deputy assistant attorney general.
The third member of the panel, Appeals Judge A. Raymond Randolph, expressed doubt that the Cheney task force is required to disclose information about its inner workings. However, Randolph, an appointee of Bush’s father, also questioned whether the administration should be seeking appeals court intervention.
Here is the full text of the article in case the link goes bad:
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/1872197
HoustonChronicle.com
HoustonChronicle.com logo HoustonChronicle.com
Section: Business
Section: National
Section: Enron
Current stories in Business:
* Sixel: Saving comp days can be a treat, if it’s truly an option
* American’s unions cry foul over executive perks
o Delta reports loss; more jobs at stake
* Ford takes detour on promises for efficiency
* FTC accuses operator of disguised porn spam
* Jobs secure for reservists coming back
* Energy firms say penalty is too tough
* Spalding sells namesake line of equipment
* Russia OKs private pipeline
* Bar falls on Web price ploy
* Judges tell White House `no case’
* New military contract big win for truck maker
* CEO got $25.8 million in compensation
* Super Bowl to give boost to business
* Sagging sales in mail order lead to catalog changing hands
* Oil futures climb back over $30 a barrel
* Brother supports sister in lawsuit on Pritzker trust funds
* Jobless claims rise again, but so do markets
* Troubles with credit card debt, slow sales pinch Sears’ profit
* NYSE scrutinizes specialist traders
* Toyota adding power to hybrid
* Dell outpaces HP for market share
* Dr. Mac
* Briefs: City & state
* Briefs: Nation & world
Printer-friendly format
April 17, 2003, 11:01AM
Judge questions Bush request to halt Cheney suit
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court today questioned the Bush administration’s request to stop a lawsuit delving into Vice President Dick Cheney’s contacts with energy industry executives and lobbyists.
Appeals Judges Harry Edwards and David Tatel suggested the White House had no legal basis for asking them to block a lower court judge from letting the case proceed.
The Bush administration took the unusual step of coming to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the midst of the case.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan has ruled that the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch may be entitled to a limited amount of information about the meetings Cheney and his aides had with the energy industry in formulating the White House’s energy plan.
The plan, adopted four months after President Bush took office, favored opening up public lands to oil and gas drilling and a wide range of other steps backed by industry.
Among the industry executives that the Cheney energy task force has acknowledged meeting with were former Enron Corp. chief executive Ken Lay.
Tatel, an appointee of President Clinton, said the administration has failed to show that it is suffering legal harm at the hands of the lower court. Edwards, a Carter-era appointee, told a government attorney flatly that “you have no authority” to ask the appeals court to intervene in the middle of the lawsuit.
The government is seeking “a modest extension” of a previous court ruling, responded Gregory Katsas, a deputy assistant attorney general.
The third member of the panel, Appeals Judge A. Raymond Randolph, expressed doubt that the Cheney task force is required to disclose information about its inner workings. However, Randolph, an appointee of Bush’s father, also questioned whether the administration should be seeking appeals court intervention.
The Bush administration says it has demonstrated that the two private groups are not entitled to any information about the meetings between industry representatives and presidential aides, including the vice president.
The environmental group and the conservative group allege that participants from industry effectively became members of Cheney’s task force in assembling the White House’s energy policy.
Strict party-line vote it appears. Though WHICH appeals court is this? The GOP controls 11 of the 13 (perhaps 12 by now) appeals courts in the nation. I can’t imagine that any of those GOP-controlled courts would have a three-judge panel dominated by non-Republicans.