Thursday, March 18, 2004

Scalia Refuses To Step Down From Cheney Case Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia refused March 18, 2004 to recuse himself from the Cheney energy task force case, rejecting suggestions of conflict of interest from the Sierra Club. Scalia explained his refusal defiantly in an unusual 21-page memo.  Sierra Club had moved for a recusal because Scalia had gone duck hunting with his personal friend Vice President Cheney, and flown on Cheney's airplane. Scalia said the hunting camp "was not an intimate setting" and that the energy case was never discussed. Scalia said one reason his case was different from those governing normal judicial conduct was that his vote could determine the case. If the court ties 4-4, the Cheney case would go back to a lower court which had ordered Cheney's task force to disclose contacts with industry. -- "Scalia Won't Remove Self From Cheney Case," by Gina Holland of Associated Press, via New York Times, March 18, 2004     12:15:55 PM

18 Media Groups Decry HHS's Use of Fake News Reports From the AHCJ, March 16, 2004 -- Seventeen journalism organizations -- representing more than 25,000 journalists - today joined the Association of Health Care Journalists in asking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to stop using video news releases that have the appearance of authentic news reports. AHCJ President Andrew Holtz made the request in a telephone call to HHS spokesman William Pierce on Tuesday. On Monday the New York Times reported that the Bush administration paid people to pose as journalists praising the benefits of the new Medicare law, including expanded coverage of prescription medicines. Full Story. 11:54:12 AM

Prize Winner Calls for Lawsuits to Defend FOI Cyber-lawyer David Sobel won this year's prestigious Madison Award at the March 16, 2004, FOI Day conference for persistent toughness in defending not only the 1st Amendment, but Internet freedoms as well. Sobel told the standing-room-only crowd of journalists, lawyers, activists, and librarians that 2 decades of experience had convinced him that going to court "frequently offered the only real hope of enforcing the public’s right to know." Prizewinner Sobel spoke as keynoter at the Arlington, VA, conference co-sponsored by the Freedom Forum and the American Library Association. The ALA each year gives the James Madison Award to honor a single individual whose work has contributed outstandingly to freedom of information. National Freedom of Information Day is held on Madison's birthday. Full story. 9:50:47 AM

GAO Finds Federal FOIA Performance Improving The General Accounting Office reported in February 2004 that federal FOI requests received and processed declined from 2000 to 2004 -- if the Dept. of Veterans Affairs is excluded from the tally of all other agencies. GAO said that in the same period, the backlog of Freedom of Information requests declined, fewer requests were denied, and more granted or partially granted. The VA, which accounts for 60% of requests government-wide, skews results because it recently required patients to FOIA their own medical records. But GAO said implementation of E-FOIA, which requires electronic access to electronic records, remains poor. GAO's findings largely reflect findings published by the Justice Department in September 2003. Previous WatchDog story. -- GAO: Information Management: Update on Freedom of Information Act Implementation Status, Feb. 2004, GAO-04-257. 9:04:26 AM