Judge Orders Cheney To Preserve Records Of His Time In Office

The White House has suffered yet another setback in its battle over the powers of the Executive Branch in light of a federal judge’s orders that Vice President Dick Cheney must preserve his records:

Vice President Dick Cheney must preserve a broad range of records from his time in office, a federal judge ordered Saturday, ruling in favor of a private watchdog group.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly found that the records are not excluded from preservation under Presidential Records Act, which gives the national archivist responsibility over the custody of and access to the records at the end of a president’s final term.

The Bush administration had sought a narrow interpretation of the act to allow for fewer materials to be preserved by the National Archives.

“Defendants were only willing to agree to a preservation order that tracked their narrowed interpretation of the PRA’s statutory language,” Kollar-Kotelly said in her order. This position “heightens the Court’s concern” that some records will not be preserved without an injunction.

Cheney chief of staff David Addington has told Congress that the vice president belongs to neither the executive nor legislative branch of government, AP reported. Instead, he said, the office is attached by the Constitution to Congress. The vice president presides over the Senate.

The issue is important in political terms due to the ongoing battle between the Bush administration and Congress over the powers of executive and legislative branches. However, the biggest impact — if the ruling isn’t eventually overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court — will be on history. It really won’t be until the Bush administration is out of office that Americans will get a full picture of the administration — dimples and warts. This means some warts will be there to see as well. Also: Cheney remains one of the more shadowy figures in recent political history and this could make it easier for historians to assess his full role and the extent of his power in shaping the Bush administration.