Judicial Watch Comes of Age as an Organization Defending The Rule of Law in America

PINE BLUFFS ̶ I first became aware of Judicial Watch as a player in 1994, when I began researching for my first book. That novel, which was eventually published (See The China Connection (Writers Club Press, New York, Lincoln, Shanghai, 2003), is a fact-based fictionalized account of efforts by the Chinese to obtain duel use missile technology from the United States through illegal contributions to the re-election campaigns of President William Jefferson Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore.

During the ‘90s I did not think anyone really cared about what the Chinese were doing. The federal government was pursuing a “policy of engagement” with that huge Asian nation, and, other than a few nationally-know reporters such as Bill Gertz of The Washington Times, the nation seemed to simply wink at any of its transgressions, including its civilian and military espionage activities directed against America’s public and private sectors.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered that led by its founder, attorney Larry Klayman (who left Judicial Watch in 2003 to run for the U.S. Senate from Florida), Judicial Watch had systematically prepared and filed eighteen lawsuits against the administration of Democrat President Bill Clinton and figures in his administration, alleging corruption, and violations of the law.

Judicial Watch’s motto is “because no one is above the law,” a concept in which I and lawyers of my generation were steeped from the first days of law school. The group describes itself as a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation that promotes transparency, accountability, and integrity in government, politics, and the law. Its mission statement states that it advocates high standards of ethics and morality in America’s public life, and that it seeks to ensure that political and judicial officers do not abuse the powers entrusted to them by the American people. Its work is accomplished through filing lawsuits with federal courts and complaints with various federal commissions.

For fifteen years, this organization has been defending, with increasing success, the proposition that “no one is above the law.” It is proudly conservative, but not partisan. It firmly believes that the rule of law should be respected by all Americans, especially those who hold high public office.

In its early years, the organization received considerable financial support from conservative billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife. Because of this, true to the form we’d see repeated over and over, Clinton administration officials charged that it was “abusing the judicial system for partisan ends.” But as proof of its non-partisanship, Judicial Watch joined with the liberal Sierra Club in filing suit against the administration of George W. Bush and Vice-President Richard Cheney for the release of Cheney’s energy task force minutes.