US judge asked to find Bush admin in contempt
Date: 15-Nov-02
Country: USA
U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan said he wanted to grapple with other complex issues in the case brought by Judicial Watch before deciding whether sanctions were appropriate. He said he would rule on some other issues on Nov. 26, but did not say when he would decide on the contempt motion.
Judicial Watch counsel Larry Klayman argued that Vice President Dick Cheney and other officials of the energy task force he headed last year should be found in contempt of court because they had not fully complied with Sullivan's orders to produce documents from the task force's meetings.
Judicial Watch and the environmental group Sierra Club are seeking the task force records to find out what influence energy companies, including the bankrupt Enron Corp. , had on the policy it developed.
The administration has produced thousands of documents from various government agencies that were involved in the task force, but none relating to Cheney and three senior White House advisers. Last month, Sullivan ordered the administration to produce the White House documents or submit a detailed explanation of what documents they were withholding and why.
The government is appealing this order and is seeking Sullivan's approval to go ahead with the appeal even though the entire Judicial Watch case is not finished. Sullivan said this week that he was inclined to deny the request, but postponed that decision until Nov. 26.
The administration could also pursue its appeal using another legal avenue called a writ of mandamus, but legal experts consider this a long shot.
Klayman noted the lawsuit was filed more than a year ago and said the government was trying to delay the case as long as possible. "Because your honor is good natured ... they think they can get away with almost anything," he told the judge.
But Justice Department Attorney Shannen Coffin said the government had been "acting in good faith."
Cheney's energy task force produced a policy paper in May 2001 that called for more oil and gas drilling and a revived nuclear power program. Environmentalists say they were largely shut out of the policy-making.
The General Accounting Office also filed suit in February demanding that Cheney hand over a list of energy industry executives who were consulted as the policy was drafted last year. Arguments were heard in that case in September before U.S. District Court Judge John Bates, but he has not ruled.