House lawyer asks court to dismiss US lawsuit

By Compiled From Wire Service Dispatches From Monitor Correspondents Around The World; Edited By Linda Feldmann

February 2, 1983

Washington

A lawyer for the House of Representatives told a US district court judge Tuesday the administration has no constitutional right to file a lawsuit in a move to block a contempt of Congress citation against Environmental Protection Agency chief Anne Gorsuch.

Attorney Stanley Brand asked Judge John Lewis Smith to throw out the administration's ''unprecedented'' civil suit, filed moments after Mrs. Gorsuch was held in contempt last December for failing to turn over EPA documents to a House subcommittee.