Seeking answers about a czar's powers

Just what does a czar do anyway? 

Judicial Watch, a public interest group, is suing the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency to get documents that may suggest what role Carol Browner has played in developing climate change and other energy policies in the administration.

Browner was a former administrator of EPA under the Clinton administration. Her role in the current White House is a bit more nebulous: special assistant on energy and climate. The media routinely shortens that to climate czar.

Judicial Watch is using the Freedom of Information Act as the basis for its suit. It wants documents related to negotiations over fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks and cap-and-trade legislation.

EPA failed to respond in a timely manner, the group said. The Energy Department meanwhile denied it had any documents of the type Judicial Watch was seeking.

The group said the court challenge is part of a larger investigation into Obama administration “czars.”