Just a few months after Bush was inaugurated, the White House created an “energy task force” responsible for shaping the administration’s energy policies. To no one’s surprise, the task force, headed by Vice President Cheney, concluded that we need to drill for more oil, ease environmental regulations, and ignore calls for greater conservation.
The interesting part was the secrecy with which the Cheney group met and operated. Though it was obvious that oil and other energy companies were playing an unprecedented role in shaping the administration’s policy, the White House was hesitant about the political fallout if perceived as being in the back pocket of big business and its lobbyists.
As such, when the administration was asked who the task force met with in helping to create the energy policy, the White House refused to divulge any information.
Two groups, the Sierra Club, a progressive environmental organization, and Judicial Watch, a conservative “watchdog” group, sued the administration to determine who met with Cheney’s task force.
Naturally, the White House has fought this lawsuit vehemently. Today, however, a federal appeals court ruled that the Sierra Club/Judicial Watch lawsuit can continue.
As the AP explained, the appeals court “said administration officials must turn over some information about the task force or list specific documents that they intend to withhold from the proceedings.”
The White House has argued that these details, such as which lobbyists had special influence with the administration, should be kept secret from the public. The court found no reason to buy this argument.
The court did rule, however, that the administration, if it so chooses, can “invoke executive or any other privilege” in an attempt to keep the material out of the public domain. Of course, it would then become dramatically clear that the White House had a great deal to hide.
Cheney has said all along that the task force list he has fought so hard to keep secret is no big deal and this fight over the lawsuit is purely over principle. It becomes harder to believe these claims in light of the aggressive approach taken by White House attorneys, and it would be impossible to believe if the administration invoked “executive privilege.”
Stay tuned.