Judicial Watch, Inc.,
Respondent
Paul J. Orfanedes, Counsel of RecordJudicial Watch, a conservative government accountability organization, and the environmentalist group Sierra Club filed separate suits against the Bush Administration alleging that it had violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) during closed-door meetings to devise a national energy policy. The two groups, whose lawsuits were later joined together, argued that the National Energy Policy Development Group (NEPDG), led by Vice President Richard Cheney, was composed partly of non-Federal employees and therefore had to make meeting records available to the public. A district court denied the Administration’s motion to dismiss the case and granted the…