Suit on Cheney Energy Files to Proceed

A federal judge chastised the Bush administration for seeking "aggrandizement of executive power" in a ruling that allows a lawsuit seeking information about the administration's energy policy to proceed.

The two groups that filed the suit, the conservative watchdog Judicial Watch and the environmental group Sierra Club, must present on July 19 their request for documents and depositions of administration officials before a ruling on Aug. 2.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said it is a "distinct possibility" that the group will seek to depose Vice President Cheney, who led the administration's energy task force, as well as Cabinet members and staff. But a Sierra Club lawyer, David Bookbinder, said depositions are not likely "in the first round."

A Justice Department lawyer said the administration is "considering all of our options" and will "come forward with our own counterproposal" on July 26.

The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, was issued Thursday night and follows an oral ruling Sullivan made on May 23. The opinion called "troubling" the administration's argument that the two groups should not be allowed to sue for documents and information about the task force under the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

Sullivan wrote that by the Bush administration's logic, "Any action by Congress or the judiciary that intrudes on the president's ability to recommend legislation to Congress or get advice from Cabinet members in any way would necessarily violate the Constitution."

"Such a ruling would eviscerate the understanding of checks and balances between the three branches of government on which our constitutional order depends," the opinion said. "The fact that the government may want to advocate a new theory of executive authority and the separation of powers is its prerogative. It cannot, however, cloak what is tantamount to an aggrandizement of executive power with the legitimacy of precedent where none exists."