Cheney's High Court

[Robbien]

Published on Friday, June 25, 2004 by the Capital Times / Madison, Wisconsin

Editorial


Unfortunately, the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to permit Vice President Dick Cheney to keep secret the records of his energy task force meetings came as no great surprise. The willingness of the court to allow Justice Antonin Scalia to take part in the deliberations - despite the fact that Scalia has a 30-year friendship with Cheney and recently accompanied him on a duck hunting trip - gave a pretty good indication that this court would rather serve the private interests Cheney seeks to protect than the public interest.

While there are still legal issues to be resolved regarding Cheney's secrecy, the court's decision is disappointing. The 7-2 ruling allows Cheney to continue to refuse to release notes, memos and other documents of his behind-closed-doors meetings with energy industry insiders, such as Enron CEO Ken Lay. It also makes it harder for congressional and media investigators to piece together the full story of how Cheney and his aides manipulated the energy task force's recommendations to serve the interests of Enron and other big energy firms.

Luckily, enough information has come out to reveal, as Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and others have noted, that the majority of Lay's suggestions were incorporated into Cheney's final report, and into the legislative agenda that resulted from it. Of course, it would be good to know all the details of the vice president's backroom dealings, as well as those of other administration aides associated with the energy task force. But sufficient information is available to conclude that the process was corrupted by the coziness of Cheney, the former CEO of Halliburton, with Lay and other energy industry insiders. That ought to shame Congress into rejecting the energy agenda, and into continuing efforts to expose any and all wrongdoing related to the task force.

As for the court, it has again proven itself to be the tragic branch of the federal government. Established by the founders to keep watch on the executive and legislative branches, it has in recent years appeared to be little more than a rubber stamp for the executive branch when it comes to issues of secrecy and oversight. And, as the Scalia scandal indicates, it is, as well, far too friendly with the Bush administration.

Much more. . .
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0625-11.htm