A federal District Judge in Washington, DC has ruled in favor of former VP Cheney, agreeing that the VP has broad discretion to decide which of the records from his tenure are personal and which belong to the US government under the Presidential Records Act, a post-Watergate reform law providing for placement of presidential records in the National Archives. But the Court rejected Cheney’s broadest contention that no outside party has the right to sue him to contest his decisions on the status of specific records. Below is the AP’s story on the new court decision.-PS
By PETE YOST
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge ruled Monday that Vice President
Dick Cheney has broad discretion in determining what records created
during his eight-year tenure must be preserved.
Absent any evidence that Cheney’s office is failing to safeguard
records, it is up to the vice president to determine how he deals with
material, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled.
“Congress drastically limited the scope of outside inquiries related
to the vice president’s handling of his own records during his term in
office,” the judge said in a 63-page opinion.
The Presidential Records Act “provides only narrow areas of
oversight,” the ruling added.
At the same time, the judge rejected the Bush administration’s
expansive view that Cheney alone has the right to decide what the
Presidential Records Act means for his office. The administration had
argued that outside groups could not go to court to challenge Cheney
on the issue.
At issue is whether Cheney had impermissibly limited the scope of the
post-Watergate law aimed at protecting White House records.
The judge found that outside groups suing over the issue failed to
prove that Cheney had unlawfully narrowed the definition as to which
of his records are presidential records that must be preserved.
The judge said Congress must change the law before substantial outside
oversight can take place.
The Presidential Records Act incorporates an assumption made by
Congress that presidents and vice presidents would comply with the act
in good faith, said the judge.
Cheney has taken the legal position that his office is not part of the
executive branch of government, triggering a lawsuit by several groups
including three organizations of historians and archivists concerned
that the record of Cheney’s time in office might not be adequately
safeguarded.
Last summer, Cheney chief of staff David Addington told Congress the
vice president belongs to neither the executive nor legislative branch
of government, but rather is attached by the Constitution to Congress.
The vice president presides over the Senate.
The lawsuit alleges that the Bush administration’s actions over the
past eight years call into question whether the White House will turn
over to the National Archives a complete record of the activities of
Cheney and his staff.
The ruling means that there is little room for the courts or the U.S.
archivist to ensure that records are being protected.
“This is a huge loophole in the Presidential Records Act and Congress
needs to address it immediately,” said Melanie Sloan, executive
director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a
watchdog group that was one of the plaintiffs in the case.
CREW tried but failed to get permission from the judge to question
Addington about Cheney’s record-keeping practices.
Copyright AP 2009