Associated Press
July 13, 2002
http://www.arizonarepublic.com/news/articles/0713cheney13.html
WASHINGTON - A federal judge says the Bush administration has a disturbingly
broad legal view of confidential advice to the president that would keep a huge
amount of government information secret.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan also accused the administration of making
purposefully misleading arguments in defending Vice President Dick Cheney's
energy task force against two lawsuits.
The Sierra Club environmental organization and Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, are seeking records about how the Cheney task force was influenced by industry executives and lobbyists in formulating national energy policy.
Sullivan criticized the Bush administration's position that applying the Federal Advisory Committee Act to the Cheney task force encroaches on the president's right to receive confidential advice necessary to carry out his duties.
The judge said the government's position signifies that "any action by Congress or the judiciary that intrudes on the president's ability to recommend legislation to Congress or get advice from Cabinet members in any way would necessarily violate the Constitution."
"Such a ruling would eviscerate the understanding of checks and balances between the three branches of government on which our constitutional order depends," said the judge, who was appointed to the bench by former President Clinton.
The administration's arguments "fly in the face of precedent," he said.
The judge said the proper approach is to examine whether disclosure would prevent the executive branch from carrying out any constitutionally assigned function.
The judge's opinion details his legal reasoning for an oral decision he made in May that rejected the administration's motion to dismiss the cases.
Sullivan said Justice Department lawyers defending the Cheney task force had mischaracterized a minority opinion in a Supreme Court case as if it were controlling legal authority that should result in dismissal of the lawsuits.
"One or two isolated mis-citations or misleading interpretations of precedent are forgivable mistakes of busy counsel, but a consistent pattern of misconstruing precedent presents a much more serious concern," Sullivan wrote.
He said the government misstated the law in other instances as well.
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