Bush to set out constitutional defense to GAO suit
Date: 25-Feb-02
Country: USA
Author: Adam Entous
Drawing battle lines with the investigative arm of Congress, the White House said it was "ready to fight" the General Accounting Office in court to keep it from obtaining the records, which could shed light on the role Enron Corp. , President George W. Bush's biggest financial backer in the 2000 campaign, and other companies played in developing the administration's energy policy.
White House officials said their goal was to stem what they see as an erosion of presidential authority since the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal. They picked up support last week from an unlikely source - Lanny Davis, who served as special counsel to former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.
While echoing the Republican administration's legal arguments, Davis suggested that Bush release the documents voluntarily, saying, "Having been there, done that, I'm afraid to say that ultimately they are going to have to compromise because of the politics post-Enron in Washington."
Representatives from Enron met six times last year with Vice President Dick Cheney or staff involved in crafting the administration's energy plan, which critics say contained many provisions sought by Enron. The energy trader declared the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history in December.
Citing the GAO's right to ensure the executive branch's accountability, Democrats have urged Bush to turn over the documents. The GAO, which filed suit in U.S. District Court in Washington, is pursuing the case at the request of Democratic lawmakers who say environmentalists were mostly excluded from the closed meetings of Cheney's energy task force, which produced a policy calling for more oil and gas drilling, as well as a revival of nuclear power.
WHITE HOUSE DENIES SPECIAL FAVORS
The White House denies it did any special favors for Enron, and says its legal team will make the case that the GAO lacks the statutory authority to demand the documents.
White House lawyers also will warn that a ruling in the GAO's favor would erode the powers of the presidency, damage the administration's ability to seek candid advice from outside experts and set a dangerous precedent that could affect a wide range of domestic and foreign policies.
"If the president picked up the phone and made a long-distance phone call to one of his generals in the field in Afghanistan, under the GAO's interpretation of the statute, they could investigate that phone call," a Bush administration official said. "Clearly there is information the president receives from his closest advisers that should remain confidential."
In a sign of how seriously the White House was taking the GAO's lawsuit, Bush tapped Solicitor General Theodore Olson, the government's top litigator, and Robert McCallum Jr., assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's civil division, to defend against the lawsuit.
Olson successfully argued for Bush before the Supreme Court in the battle with Al Gore over the disputed 2000 presidential election.
"We have been ready to fight for this important principle since the GAO first indicated they were going to file suit last summer," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "And we look forward to the court reviewing this matter."
Legal scholars are divided on who might win in court. It is the first time the 80-year-old GAO has taken the executive branch to court over access to documents. Other such disputes have been settled out of court.
Some experts believe Bush has a constitutional right to withhold the information. Others say Cheney, in his role as the head of an inter-agency task force, is not protected by the normal constitutional powers of the vice president.
Davis cautioned his fellow Democrats against taking sides with the GAO, saying: "I think that Vice President Cheney and the White House are taking the constitutionally correct position defending an important precedent against encroachment by the Congress."
But other Democrats said the damag
