The Bush administration hardly needs encouragement to deny public access to vital government information. Regrettably, encouragement came last week in the form of a federal appellate court ruling supporting the administration's refusal to divulge details about the role of energy industry lobbyists in drafting White House energy policy.

At issue were the secretive workings of the energy task force headed by Vice President Dick Cheney early in President Bush's first term. Judicial Watch and the Sierra Club sued to compel disclosure about the panel's work, relying on the Federal Advisory Committee Act, intended to promote government integrity by requiring such panels to reveal their meetings and communications with private parties.

The new 8-to-0 ruling essentially upheld the Bush administration's argument that it has no obligation to disclose because the act exempts advisory committees composed entirely of federal employees. The court said that only federal officials had a vote on the panel or veto power over its policy recommendations, and brushed aside arguments that the influential participation by outside special interests made them de facto members of the task force.

The outcome, though disappointing, was not all that surprising. In a procedural ruling a year ago best remembered for the controversy over Justice Antonin Scalia's duck-hunting trip with the vice president, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower court. It added instructions to give greater consideration to Mr. Cheney's objection that even the limited fact-finding into the panel's structure and membership that had been ordered by a federal trial judge in an attempt to resolve the dispute violated the constitutional separation of powers.