Judicial Watch Asks Cheney
Held For Contempt Of Court
Judicial Watch Asks Court To Hold Vice President
In Contempt In Energy Task Force Case
Vice President, Bush Administration Defy Court's Orders
in Refusing to Turn Over Task Force Documents
10-4-2
(WASHINGTON,   DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and   prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it asked a federal   court to issue an order to show cause to Vice President Cheney as to why he   should not be held in contempt for refusing to produce documents pursuant to   a federal court order in the ongoing Judicial Watch lawsuit concerning his   Energy Task Force. The Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan had ruled that the Vice   President was required to produce information concerning into the identities   of Task Force participants, how the Task Force operated, and the role of the   Vice President in the Task Force.
Rather   than respond to the court-ordered discovery request, the Vice President asked   the court to reconsider its ruling based on constitutional arguments that had already been specifically rejected three times by the   court as mischief and a problematic and unprecedented   assertion...of Executive Power.
Judicial   Watch was forced to file a lawsuit last year under the Federal Advisory   Committee Act (open meetings law) after it was rebuffed in its requests for   information on the Task Force by Vice President Cheney. Several months later,   the Energy Task Force was also sued by the Sierra Club, which is now a   co-plaintiff in Judicial Watch's lawsuit.
A   copy of the legal brief, filed Monday, laying out Judicial Watch's argument   that the Vice President is in contempt of the court's orders is available by   clicking http://www.judicialwatch.org/cases/67/showcau.htm here.
The Vice President is not 'yet' Emperor. He is not above the law and should obey   court orders like every other American citizen. We are requesting sanctions   and other relief for his flouting of a federal judge's direct orders,  stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman.
A   hearing in the matter will take place on November 13, 2002.
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