Suit against Cheney's energy task force thrown out of court

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge on Monday rebuffed congressional efforts to gather information about meetings that Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force held with industry executives and lobbyists as it was formulating the administration's energy plan.

U.S. District Judge John Bates said the lawsuit filed by Comptroller General David Walker against the vice president is an unprecedented act that raises serious separation-of-powers issues between the executive and legislative branches of government.

"No court has ever before granted what the comptroller general seeks," wrote Bates, an appointee of President Bush.

The judge said that the comptroller general, who runs the General Accounting Office, "does not have the personal, concrete and particularized injury required" under the Constitution and that "his complaint must be dismissed."

Courts historically have not stepped in to resolve disputes between the political branches, wrote Bates.

"This case, in which neither a House of Congress nor any congressional committee has issued a subpoena for the disputed information or authorized this suit, is not the setting for such unprecedented judicial action," wrote the judge.

Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman of California and John Dingell of Michigan requested information in the spring of 2001 about which industry executives and lobbyists the Cheney task force was meeting with in formulating the Bush administration's energy plan.

As the dispute grew, Democratic Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Ernest Hollings of South Carolina and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota joined the fight, urging that Cheney disclose data about his industry meetings.

Called for more drilling

The Cheney energy plan called for expanded oil and gas drilling on public land and easing regulatory barriers to building nuclear power plants. Among the proposals: Drilling in the Arctic wildlife refuge and possibly reviving nuclear fuel reprocessing, which was abandoned in the 1970s as a nuclear proliferation threat.

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, argued that its statutory responsibilities give it broad powers to investigate government programs and demand almost all government documents required to help Congress.

The suit asked the court to require Cheney to reveal who attended the energy tax force meetings, with whom the task force met to develop its energy recommendations, how it determined whom to invite and how much it cost to develop the policy.