And Another

Another column. In the Memphis Flyer online. It's a good one.

Many of you will remember the first Bush administration fighting like the devil to withhold information around Cheney’s secret closed-door energy policy meetings. [...]

[...] Obtained through an FOIA request by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, the few documents made available paint a very suggestive picture of the form any Cheney-driven energy policy would take. For example, consider the map of the Iraqi oil fields, detailing individual field capacity, pipelines, refineries, and tanker terminals. Or a perhaps another, even more telling, “Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts.”

Cheney refused to disclose any information regarding his secret meetings, citing executive privilege. After multiple judges on lower courts ordered their release, the administration went to the Supreme Court.

Justice Scalia went duck hunting with Cheney after agreeing to hear the case. Though there were repeated calls for Scalia’s recusal, any conflict of interest was haughtily dismissed by both men, with the end result a familiar 5-4 split decision in Cheney’s favor that set aside the case for good.

Give it a read. This and the JFP piece have been added to the archive site as well, for your bookmarking pleasure.