Judge orders release of Cheney energy records
Administration plans to appeal
From John King
CNN Washington
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Bush administration to release records from Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force that the administration had argued were protected from public release because deliberations among the president's most senior advisers are privileged.
The administration plans to appeal the ruling.
U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan set a November 5 deadline -- Election Day -- for the administration to turn over the documents sought by Judicial Watch and the Sierra Club.
The administration released thousands of pages of the deliberations but has refused to release policy papers that relate specifically to deliberations involving Cheney and three other top White House aides.
The judge refused to grant a blanket privilege for those documents but did say the administration could try to shield them by explaining on a case-by-case basis why it thought a document should be privileged.
An administration official familiar with the case said Justice Department lawyers would seek to have the order suspended, and failing that, would likely appeal.