Appeals Court Sides With Cheney in Lawsuit

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered dismissal of a lawsuit seeking to force Vice President Dick Cheney to reveal details about the energy policy task force he headed and the pro-industry recommendations it made.

The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously found that two private groups that sued Cheney failed to establish that the federal government has a duty to produce documents detailing the White House's contacts with business executives and lobbyists.

The Sierra Club and Judicial Watch alleged that energy industry officials had in effect become part of Cheney's 2001 task force and that the panel was a federal advisory committee with an obligation to provide public disclosure about its operations.

The appeals court disagreed, saying "There is nothing to indicate that nonfederal employees had a right to vote on committee matters or exercise a veto over committee proposals."...............

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/10/AR2005051000599.html

[ixion]

1. gov't aquits itself of wrongdoing

Really, shouldn't we have a people's court? If the insiders are making the rules and enforcing them, that really doesn't give us good oversight.

[reprobate]

23. A people's court? Yes. LIke the one that got Marie Antoinette in 1789.

And bring all members of the administration, all corporate managers from CEO down to regional manager, and all membersof the RNC before it.

Perhaps we can make a long term lease deal for Dr. Guilotin's favorite invention.

Say what you want about the French, they knew how to liberate heads!

A joke? I think not. Treason is a capital crime, and that's exactly what these traitors have committed.

[meegbear]

2. There is nothing to indicate ...

that nonfederal employees had a right to vote on committee matters or exercise a veto over committee proposals.

You know, I bet if they RELEASED THE DOCUMENTS, we'd know. :grr:

[rodeodance]

6. did this judge ever of quid pro quo? stupid decision and cheney GRINS

......The appeals court disagreed, saying "There is nothing to indicate that nonfederal employees had a right to vote on committee matters or exercise a veto over committee proposals."...............

[Firenze777]

3. It's getting really discouraging, isn't it?

Do they answer to anyone? This dam may not break, but I'm guessing the Conyers investigation into the UK memo has real legs. We can pray.

[Atman]

4. Gosh, why am I not surprised?

And people wonder where the "missing" $100 million went. It is greasing a lot of palms.

[Nickster]

5. Gee, I'm shocked, something else that this admin will not be accountable

[Zorra]

14. Bingo. No accountability to the people. This is why Bush wants judges

that are in the corporate fascist pocket to be confirmed so desperately.

With a compromised, corrupt fascist judiciary in place, a judiciary comprised mainly of Federalist Society members, he will no longer have to pay any attention to the democratic will of the people.

This is a major step in the Bush/PNAC plan for totalitarian fascist America. Judges will now defer to the fascist dictatorship, and will completely ignore the Constitution.

It will mean the permanent end of government accountability to the people, and will be the moment that defines the end of democracy in the United States.

[kliljedahl]

7. Damn "Activist" judges

Keith’s Barbeque Central

[liberal N proud]

8. And they wonder why the Democrats appose more of these radical

judges!
They have already loaded the courts to the point they can get away with treason and other crimes.

[UpInArms]

9. Appeals Court Sides With Cheney in Lawsuit (Energy Papers)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/05/10/national/w080655D03.DTL

A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered dismissal of a lawsuit seeking to force Vice President Dick Cheney to reveal details about the energy policy task force he headed and the pro-industry recommendations it made.

The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously found that two private groups that sued Cheney failed to establish that the federal government has a duty to produce documents detailing the White House's contacts with business executives and lobbyists.

The Sierra Club and Judicial Watch alleged that energy industry officials had in effect become part of Cheney's 2001 task force and that the panel was a federal advisory committee with an obligation to provide public disclosure about its operations.

The appeals court disagreed, saying "There is nothing to indicate that nonfederal employees had a right to vote on committee matters or exercise a veto over committee proposals."

Cheney's energy task force was not an advisory committee and "it follows that the government owed the plaintiffs no duty, let alone a clear and indisputable or compelling one," said the appeals court opinion by Judge A. Raymond Randolph.

...more...

:argh:

[phantom power]

10. Riiiight.

If they weren't there to "advise", then just exactly what were they doing there?

[dmr]

12. Exactly

If there's nothing to hide, then why hide it?

Information that would come from this would probably put a few people in jail. A lot has transpired since those early days of California blackouts, and the quest for Black Sea oil.

[MGKrebs]

11. Why would they need to vote if they wrote the language?

Sheesh. Even I know that if you stack the "task force" with friendlies, don't allow any open debate or any dispute, and let me write the language, I'm going to get what I want.

Let's see, we don't have any PROOF of wrongdoing, so we're not going to look for it where it might be.

The irony here is almost as great as Condi essentially claiming that not appointing Bolton would have a chilling effect on open debate.

[Double T]

13. We Would Never Want Cheney To Have To Divulge The Truth......

....about what decisions he is making about the energy policy and who he is making the decisions with. When you are up to no good, you sure don't want anyone to know what you are doing and who you are doing it with. I find it unbelievable that the court stands behind this kind of behavior but this is what conservative RW judges are all about. And let
us not forget Halliburton type behavior.

[AlCzervik]

15. we are never going to know who is on the FERC board

[jukes]

17. it may come out

at the next version of the nuremburg trials, when the world tries our war-criminals.

after we're defeated in WWIII, that is.

[aquart]

16. Sentelle, I take it?

The DC circuit judges are so dirty they will have to wipe their feet to enter Hell.

[mmonk]

18. By the people for the people?

I guess that doesn't include the right to know what the government is doing.

[lala_rawraw]

19. US court dismisses Cheney energy task force case

US court dismisses Cheney energy task force case

40 minutes ago

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit that sought details about Vice President Dick Cheney's 2001 energy policy task force that critics say secretly formed policy favorable to the industry.

The unanimous ruling ordered a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit by the Sierra Club environmental group and the watchdog group Judicial Watch that sought to learn about contacts between task force members and industry executives.

"We hold that plaintiffs have failed to establish any duty, let alone a clear and indisputable duty, owed to them by the federal government" under the law in question, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Judge A. Raymond Randolph wrote in the 13-page ruling.

All eight judges on the appeals court sided with the Bush administration and agreed the lawsuit must be dismissed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050510/pl_nm/energy_cheney_dc&printer=1

[iamjoy]

20. Darn Activist Judges! (eom)

[Dinger]

21. What Can Be Done???

What in the holy hell can be done?????????

[reprobate]

24. "What can be done"? Just wait. Every time they screw us more people.....

....turn against them. One day soon there will be enough groups so pissed at them and who realize just what they have done to this nation, that I'm very afraid that violence will begin in the streets of D.C.

And i hope they don't depend on the military to save them, cause the military will be the most angry group they face. They have now effectively destroyed the strongest military in the world, all to line the pockets of a few industrialists.

It would be interesting to research the board members of the biggest defense contractors and look at the interlocking board members. Who wants to bet it gets down to just a few, maybe a hundred people who control the country?

[Paul Dlugokencky]

22. How will the Fristians feel about *these* activist judges?

http://www.cafepress.com/kickindemocrats

[lala_rawraw]

25. holy shit...

I got so lost in another thread, I forgot to check in on this one, lol.

[cyberpj]

36. Judge who exonerated Cheney is on the payroll of Exxon

Judge who exonerated Cheney is on the payroll of Exxon
11 May 2005
_________________________
U.S. court dismisses Cheney energy task force case 10 May 2005 2:56 PM ET--A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit that sought details about Vice President Dick Cheney's 2001 energy policy task force that critics say secretly formed policy favorable to the industry.
The unanimous ruling ordered a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit by the Sierra Club environmental group and the watchdog group Judicial Watch that sought to learn about contacts between task force members and industry executives.
"We hold that plaintiffs have failed to establish any duty, let alone a clear and indisputable duty, owed to them by the federal government" under the law in question, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Judge A. Raymond Randolph wrote in the 13-page ruling.


http://www.legitgov.org/news_cheney_task_force_judge_051005.html

[Jose Diablo]

38. Seeing how the 'Honorable' Raymond Randolph is associated with

George Mason University, Law and Economics Center, an organization receiving funding by Exxon, General Motors, Bethlehem Steel, ITT, and Pfizer, Inc., the General Electric and Mobil Foundations, and the Monsanto Fund, you know those giants that participated in Cheney's Energy task force, would it be a stretch to speculate that the 'Honorable' Raymond Randolph had a fiduciary interest in one of the parties involved in this lawsuit. Isn't a judge in this position required to recuse himself from ruling in this lawsuit. For if he did have a financial stake in the outcome of the lawsuit, couldn't he then be disbarred and also open himself up to charges of committing a felony, thus subject to impeachment proceedings within congress?

[cyberpj]

39. Yes. Everything you said makes perfect sense.

But that doesn't seem to matter with this congress and a fascist regime. Especially when it doesn't get media play either.

Why aren't we marching in the streets by now?

[Jose Diablo]

41. Because we need a larger issue

And the republican bankruptcy judge has just given a very big 'economic' issue that should be able to fire-up "the people".

I think the people are ready. Yep, I really do.

[struggle4progress]

40. He should have recused himself. eom

[MadisonProgressive]

26. THIS IS BULLSHIT!

"There is nothing to indicate that nonfederal employees had a right to vote on committee matters or exercise a veto over committee proposals."


WELL THAT'S WHAT WE WANT TO FIND OUT DUMBASS!!!!!!!!!

God, we are lost. We've lost everything.

[Career Prole]

27. Appeals Court Sides With Cheney in Lawsuit

WASHINGTON - A lawsuit seeking to force Vice President Dick Cheney to reveal details about the energy policy task force he headed and the pro-industry recommendations it made was scuttled Tuesday by a federal appeals court.

The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously found that two private groups that sued Cheney failed to establish that the federal government had a legal duty to produce documents detailing the White House's contacts with business executives and lobbyists.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050510/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cheney_energy

Hey, didja hear the one about the liberal activist judges and the farmer's daughter? :grr:

[BlueEyedSon]

28. HELLO FASCISM!

Govt+corporations, right???

[Rex]

29. Just like we all knew they would

Can't have people finding out about Cheney & Enron's power grab in Afghanistan now can we?

I'm not a religious man, but it is people like Cheney that make me hope there really is a Hell.

[Toots]

30. No legal duty to exercise "Open Government"

This is what we have come to.............:hurts:

[leesa]

31. Well, of course the energy barons didn't VOTE on anything

They used hard cold cash. What kind of bogus, idiotic decision was this? They didn't vote on anything therefore we have no right to see public documents?? Does this make sense in any arena?

Some of these judges desperately need logic courses.

[lovuian]

32. Not Surprised at all!!!

and anyway its a bit late!!!

[jazzjunkysue]

33. Gee-I'm just shocked.

:puke:

[UCSBLiberalCat53]

34. What is that I hear?

Silence from the "IMPEACH ACTIVIST JUDGES" crowd.

[Roland99]

35. Damn activist judges. Like they need to stack the deck any more???

[tom_paine]

37. The DC District Court of Appeals is a pathetic joke and has been

for quite some time.

Remember, it has produced such Banner Members of the Corrupt Jurists' Hall of Fame as Fat Tony Scalia, Dave Sentelle and Larry "Greasy" Silberman.

It is less a Court than it is an arm of the Imperial Family, and is at the center of the Death of the Old American Republic since back in the 80s when the first seeds were sown for Totalitarian Tyranny.

Dear God, there is simply no way that Old America can be restored without electoral victory.

And there can be no electoral victory while the corruption and control of the "Voting" Systems remains uninspectable, unauditable, and in the complete control of the Busheviks.

Catch-22, boys and girls. I estimate a mere 2% chance that America will EVER be free again.

I want to make it clear that this does not mean to give up. NEVER GIVE UP. I would keep fighting even if there was no hope at all. I will keep voting...and you should, too, just in case I am wrong.

NEVER GIVE UP!