Lawsuit will test right to privacy in the White House

While the US Supreme Court has held that the executive branch does have a constitutional right to keep certain documents private, it has also ruled that such privacy must be balanced with Congress's right to know what's going on. As a result, the court forced President Nixon to turn over the White House tapes during the Watergate scandal, since the material was relevant to a criminal investigation.

In fact, say legal experts, most court battles involving an administration's efforts to withhold information have tilted in favor of the party seeking disclosure. "In our democratic system, the balance generally tips in favor of openness of information," says Mr. Rozell.

The relevant law in this case is the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which requires all policy meetings with outside advisers to be open, to avoid the appearance of deals being cut with lobbyists behind closed doors. The GAO and other critics contend that the vice president's energy task force should be subject to these rules. It's asking for basic information regarding "who asked whom about what, when, where - and how much did it cost," says Jeff Nelligan, a GAO spokesman.

But the White House says that the GAO is overreaching its legal authority in demanding this information from the vice president. In many ways, the situation is similar to that involving former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's task force on healthcare, say critics. "When [Mrs. Clinton] had secret meetings and refused to provide documents about that, conservatives and Republicans were up in arms - and they should be equally up in arms about what Vice President Cheney is doing," says Larry Klayman, head of Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group that is also suing the administration to get access to the energy task force documents. Mrs. Clinton eventually backed down.

But it's in part because of such past clashes that Cheney is taking such an unyielding stand. He says he is trying to reverse an erosion of executive branch authority that has taken place for decades, with Congress increasingly emboldened to demand information from presidents who often acquiesce under political pressure.

"In 34 years [in Washington], I have repeatedly seen an erosion of the powers and ability of the president of the United States to do his job," Cheney told ABC News. "We are weaker today as an institution because of the unwise compromises that have been made over the last 30 to 35 years."

Yet critics say the public today expects more transparency. "It's an old-world view of government, that people should not ask questions," says Mr. Klayman.

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