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Cheney Sued to Expose Secrets
Citizens group asks judge to order his records preserved for public access
By Peter Fearon
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Posted Sep 8, 08 4:52 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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A federal judge is being asked to prevent Dick Cheney from destroying or hiding what some believe are the administration's best kept secrets, reports the Washington Post. The advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics is calling for a court order to force the powerful vice president to preserve his papers for public access under the Presidential Records Act. The National Archives consider many VP records personal and not subject to the law.
"It horrifies me to think our government can operate in total secrecy—and then after the administration, remain in secrecy," said a history professor and plaintiff in the case. At stake is a mother lode of papers about national security, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, wiretapping and other issues that could remain beyond public reach if Cheney succeeds in blocking the move. Important documents may already have been destroyed that "we don't know" about, said a law professor.