Judicial Watch Asks Cheney Held For Contempt Of Court

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.