A federal court judge Thursday denied the Department of Justice’s request to dismiss a lawsuit seeking documents from Vice President Dick Cheney and his energy task force related to the development of the national energy policy last year.

In his decision, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan gave Judicial Watch, a public watchdog which brought the lawsuit, the go-ahead to proceed with discovery in the case. “The court’s ruling lifts the veil of secrecy” that has surrounded the workings of the task force, and permits Judicial Watch to question the Bush administration about its “composition and operations” under oath, said the group’s General Counsel Larry Klayman. The Washington, DC-based group has been joined in the lawsuit by the Sierra Club.

Judicial Watch believes the task force documents will reveal that Enron Corp. and other energy companies wielded significant influence over Cheney and his task force when crafting the Bush energy plan.

This is one of two lawsuits brought by Judicial Watch. The other legal action targeted individual federal agencies that sat on the task force, and forced them to turn over thousands of pages of documents to the group. Judicial Watch, however, still contends that agencies are withholding critical documents and records about the task force’s activities.

Judicial Watch began its pursuit of the task force records more than a year ago. It brought the lawsuit under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (open meetings law) when the Bush administration rebuffed its requests.

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