Judge To Cheney: Don't Destroy Your Records

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Saturday ordered Dick Cheney to preserve a wide range of the records from his time as vice president.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is a setback for the Bush administration in its effort to promote a narrow definition of materials that must be safeguarded under by the Presidential Records Act.

The Bush administration's legal position "heightens the court's concern" that some records may not be preserved, said the judge.

A private group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, is suing Cheney and the Executive Office of the President in an effort to ensure that no presidential records are destroyed or handled in a way that makes them unavailable to the public.

In a 22-page opinion, the judge revealed that in recent days, lawyers for the Bush administration balked at a proposed agreement between the two sides on how to proceed with the case.

Cheney and the other defendants in the case "were only willing to agree to a preservation order that tracked their narrowed interpretation" of the Presidential Records Act, wrote Kollar-Kotelly.

The administration, said the judge, wanted any court order on what records are at issue in the suit to cover only the office of the vice president, not Cheney or the other defendants in the lawsuit. The other defendants include the National Archives and the archivist of the United States.

In response to the ruling, Cheney spokesman James R. Hennigan said that "we will not have any comment on pending litigation."

The lawsuit stems from Cheney's position that his office is not part of the executive branch of government.

This 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 7 1/2 years raise questions over whether the White House will turn over records created by Cheney and his staff to the National Archives in January.

In 2003, Cheney asserted that the office of the vice president is not an entity within the executive branch.

Two historians and three groups of historians and archivists joined CREW in filing the suit two weeks ago.

Comments

[lungfish]

Moral values of the GOP..... Nobody is calling Dick Cheney a patriot. If the GOP was so confident in its patriotism and loyalty to American law and governence, they would operate transparently, answer the call of the people and the Law and let the chips fall where they may... but the truth is that the GOP bases its "patriotism" on what it has to lose and behaves accordingly....

and by the way, DICK had a fire in his office awhile back.... and where are those emails that should be on the servers?

its a ridiculous proposition to insist that the VEEP is not part of the executive branch... simple obfuscation to dodge accountability and I would like to know what he is dodging and why...

[JayInDallas]

They're on the backup tapes.

[neuron]

He kinda reminds me of a paper shredder with legs...

[eugenegerard]

Cheney and Bush have committed murder and treasonous acts. IMPEACH--I­NCARCERATE both.

[abouttime]

YES!

[lungfish]

yup, yup....

[robbor]

patience, patience...the next administration will hoover up and process these scumbags, post bush's ability to pardon.

[drzoon]

DICK had locked himself in the "closet" and is EATING every single page!

[ZDuck]

Since he never comes out during the day, we now know what he was doing in the closet...or do we really?

[mike53]

Clintons way was better. If something made it to the archives that you wanted kept secret, send Sandy Burglar in.

[MajorKong]

Comparing Clinton to Cheney is like comparing a jaywalker to John Gotti. There's at least an order of magnitude difference.

Makes me nostalgic for the 1990s when the Republicans were all chanting "Rule of law! Rule of law!"

[guajiro]

Hey Judge, how bout ordering that copies of everything start being made and I mean now, today, 2 minutes after your order. You think they're not being shredded right now? Jeez. How bout sending the Secret Service into Cheney's office, RIGHT NOW, to start looking for evidence of shredding or other document destruction evidence and at the same time send another team in to start making copies of the most relevant and important papers.......RIGHT NOW!!!!!

[KareninSac]

Hear, hear! You know Cheney has absolutely no respect for the law and will start today with his shredder. I suggest a court order for him to open that safe in his office Monday and start coping everything.

[iyamchazz]

Sorry judge.... they're already in the toilet!

[Liz22]

Cheney will disobey the order and will be pardoned by Bush when leaving office. No consequences, as usual.

[abouttime]

There is no such thing as "pre-emptive pardon". The Bush doctrine will expire in January. And if the next "Justice Department" is not corrupt, and if enough civil servnts remain loyal to their oath, Chenney may have his day in court!

[CaptainAsshole]

actually they can.

[ThermoChemist]

There is no such thing as "pre-emptive pardon".

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I once thought so, as well. Ford pardoned Nixon without any guilty plea or any conviction.

In a speech given by Ford on September 8, 1974:
[ as per http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/speeches/740060.htm ]

"Now, therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from July (January) 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974."

The reason, or one of the reasons, given:
The facts, as I see them, are that a former President of the United States, instead of enjoying equal treatment with any other citizen accused of violating the law, would be cruelly and excessively penalized either in preserving the presumption of his innocence or in obtaining a speedy determination of his guilt in order to repay a legal debt to society.

[macohmz]

He's not going to obey any judge. If he doesn't have to obey any judge then neither do I. After all isn't this a nation of"equal justice under the law?" If the public were as lawless as Bush- Cheney the social order would've broken down years ago.

[abouttime]

America is in trouble!
Americans must rise above the corruption at the top and take back what belongs to us. These are serious times, but it is said that the people here are "good' people, who are resilient and innovative. Peace on Earth is a dream of many. Our country is better than our government. We must hold these neocons accountable. Those beauraucrats and government officials (not pigeon-holed or fired) must be the witnesses to the corruption they see on a daily basis and confront their own fears of coming forward for justice. We are at a critical point in our experiment called representative democracy and we will fall like so many empires, unless the conscience of our representatives rise above the fear of reprissal.
Courage is the mantra of the people to overcome.
We shall overcome!

[PDXTransplant]

Can you even imagine in your worst nightmare exchanging C H E N E Y for Caribou Barbie?

NO WAY NO HOW NO CARIBOU!!

[CaptainStormfield]

Someone asked Cheney "Dont you like the middle class"?
He replied.. "Hell yes.. they taste like chicken"

[ladyv]

Oh, well, now that someone has given Cheney a verbal directive, that'll take care of it. He'll totally comply with that. Definitely.

But just in case, a surprise barnstorming of all his offices at the same time and confiscation of his records would probably be a good idea.

[aubrey8]

I can't believe this is even an issue. Their should of been laws in place long ago to prevent even the thought of this.

First the white house emails and now this. There needs to be prison time and lots of it tied to this.

[abouttime]

Apparently we have a government where ""We are all equal, except that some are more equal than others".
Is this true?

[ebanks84]

Has always been true!

[dogman44]

Did you just wake up? Where have you been for the last 30 years or so?

[wsblake]

cheney back to judge: "I'll do whatever i please, whenever i please wherever i please and if you dont like it ,just like i told leahy in the senate- yon can go F### yourself too

[ebanks84]

I'm sure that's what he thinks and that he will not give up his criminal activities records, but I hope he goes to jail anyway.

[wsblake]

youll get further hoing that the last eight years was just a nightmare that never really happened, than you will hoping that cheney or anyone in the bush crime family will ever be held accountable for any of their crimes

[forpeace]

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........ and at the same time, Pentagon Reassigns Controversial Guantanamo Legal Adviser As War Court Czar

As legal adviser at Guantanamo Bay, Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann has been one of the most aggressive advocates for the Bush administration’s military commissions.......

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/20/hartmann-czar/

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