Judicial Watch and the Sierra Club have scored another victory in their joint battle against Veep Cheney. A federal judge ordered the Bush Administration to release documents related to Cheney's energy task force. The administration has 30 days to object or comply with the order.

The administration will wait until 5 minutes before the deadline and then file their objections. Cheney's strategy is to stall the lawsuit, which he has no chance of winning, until after the 2004 elections. Yet each courtroom loss keeps the controversy alive and in the news, which can't be good for the embattled administration.

Since Cheney faces far more serious problems at Halliburton, it makes you wonder why they don't settle the lawsuit, release the energy task force documents, endure whatever embarrassments emerge for a news cycle or three, and then put the whole controversy behind them. Everyone assumes the meetings were dominated by Enron and Halliburton. What else could they possibly be trying to hide?