Cheney Energy Papers Suit Put on Hold

The Bush administration succeeded Friday in temporarily stopping a lawsuit seeking documents about Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy task force and its meetings with industry representatives. A federal appeals court indefinitely delayed Monday’s deadline for the White House to produce the documents or provide a detailed list of evidence it is withholding.

The two-page order said the court will schedule a date for arguments in the case. Two private groups, Judicial Watch and the Sierra Club, have sued, demanding the task force reveal documents about its meetings with industry representatives in formulating a plan that calls for expanded oil and gas drilling on public land and easing regulatory barriers to building nuclear power plants.

The administration has been trying to persuade U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan to allow it to appeal an earlier order to produce the documents. But Sullivan has said the administration has not shown adequate reason why he should turn the case over to the appeals court before a final judgment. The government is asking the appeals court for a writ of mandamus to consider the case.

Separately, the General Accounting Office is asking the task force to publicly release information about its meetings. U.S. District Judge John Bates is considering the administration’s motion to dismiss the GAO lawsuit as well.