Monday, March 30, 2009 4:15 PM

ACLU, CREW, Lobbyists Sending Letter To WH

UPDATE (March 30, 4:15 p.m.) -- Here is the news release issued by CREW, ACLU, and the American League of Lobbyists about tomorrow's briefing.

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The American Civil Liberties Union, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and the American League of Lobbyists will challenge President Obama on his new policy severely limiting lobbyists' communication with all executive branch departments and agencies.

The three groups are drafting a letter that is to be delivered to the White House on Tuesday raising First Amendment questions about Obama's March 20 memo directing the entire executive branch not to talk with lobbyists about specific projects in the economic stimulus package. A lobbyist may send a letter explaining their client's viewpoint on a specific project, but they may not have a conversation about it with administration officials. They can, however, discuss "general policy" related to the stimulus with administration staff.

Lobbyists have a good chance if they do legally challenge the memo, says Ken Gross, who leads the politics practice at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

"If a lobbyist is excluded from a meeting as a result of a presidential directive or agency policy or ruling, the lobbyist would likely have a cause of action under the First Amendment and possibly equal protection," Gross says. "The chances of succeeding of winning such a challenge are reasonably good."

A White House spokesman wasn't available for comment. What is interesting about these three groups working together is that CREW was co-founded by Norm Eisen, Obama's ethics advisor. We'll have more on this story as it unfolds online and in this week's magazine.

News of the three groups working together on the letter was first reported by the Associated Press.

                                                                                                         --Bara Vaida