Falwell sues White House

Rev. Jerry Falwell and Judicial Watch have filed a Privacy Act lawsuit against the White House and the Department of Justice in an attempt to uncover
the contents of a secret database allegedly being kept by administration
officials on anti-abortion and pro-life religious activists.

According to Falwell, a national religious figure and exclusive
/news/archives.asp?ARCHIVE_ID=31WorldNetDaily columnist, the database contains personal private information on a number of
figures hostile to Clinton administration policies dealing with
abortion.

Judicial Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based legal watchdog organization
that has several pending lawsuits against the Clinton administration, is
handling Falwell's suit. The organization's founder, Larry
Klayman, will be working closely with Jerry Falwell, Jr. -- Rev. Falwell's son,
who is also an attorney.

Rev. Jerry Falwell

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The database, called "VAAPCON," was discovered when Judicial Watch
received an anonymous tip, which was confirmed when the group filed a
Freedom of Information Act request asking the White House and Justice
Department to reveal any details about Rev. Falwell that may have been
included in the database.

The lawsuit alleges that administration and Justice officials
violated Jerry Falwell's privacy, along with scores of others, by
surreptitiously collecting and maintaining personal information on them.

"Over the years, my ministries and I have been subjected to a number
of attempts to not only inhibit our free speech, but to subvert our
pro-life advocacy," Falwell said. "When I learned of this illegal
VAAPCON database, I felt obliged to take action to stand up for the
rights of all Americans to be free to express their religious beliefs,
as people of faith should not be intimidated by a corrupt and immoral
Clinton administration."

Falwell, who is also the chancellor of Liberty University and founder of "The Moral Majority," filed a
Privacy Act request to determine whether or not the White House and
Clinton Justice Department had files on him and his ministries. Both
entities stonewalled, according to Falwell.

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told WorldNetDaily that the
concept of keeping databases on political enemies or potential financial
contributors is nothing new. He said the organization is also
representing Sheryl Hall, a former White House employee, who is suing
first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton for allegedly keeping similar private
information in a White House Database.

In fact, said Fitton, "that has also come up in the context of our
Filegate suit." He said Linda Tripp, the primary figure who broke the
Monica Lewinsky scandal, "has said that she understood that FBI files
were being uploaded into computers at the orders of Hillary Clinton."

Privacy rules not only may prohibit this kind of government
collection and retention of personal and private information, the
federal Privacy Act itself states that there must be a lawful reason for
maintaining such files. If government agencies assemble such files,
persons contained therein must be notified of the existence of the file
to attest to the accuracy of information contained there, and must be
provided the contents of the file on demand. If the government intends
to release any information contained in such files, it must obtain
permission from the person the file represents.

Fitton would not say who initially provided Judicial Watch with
information about the VAAPCON database, nor whether or not the person
was employed in the White House or in any government position, in order
to protect the integrity of the investigation and suit.

Though he said he isn't sure what might be contained in such a file,
Rev. Falwell told WorldNetDaily, "When I consider that my Christian
friend and colleague Chuck Colson [of the Nixon era] went to prison for
violating one file, it is appalling to me that this president has
violated at least 900 files with no repercussions whatever."

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Falwell added that he believes such an alleged theft of files and the
resultant databases those files may have fed were the result of "a
spineless Congress and a national media that is in virtual agreement
with every good and bad thing this president stands for."