A federal judge ruled yesterday that Vice President Dick Cheney — whom liberals fear as the most powerful non-president in U.S. history — does indeed have broad discretion in determining what records created during his eight-year tenure must be preserved.
Without any evidence that Cheney’s office is failing to safeguard records, it is up to the vice president to determine how he deals with material, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled. “Congress drastically limited the scope of outside inquiries related to the vice president’s handling of his own records during his term in office,” the judge said.
The Presidential Records Act “provides only narrow areas of oversight,” the judge added. The judge found that outside groups suing over the issue failed to prove that Cheney had unlawfully narrowed the definition as to which of his records are presidential records that must be preserved. The judge said Congress must change the law before substantial outside oversight can take place.
Cheney has taken the legal position that his office is not part of the executive branch of government, triggering a lawsuit by several groups including three organizations of historians and archivists concerned that the record of Cheney’s time in office might not be adequately safeguarded.