Cheney's State Residency Qualified

The Associated Press Thursday, Dec. 7, 2000; 1:33 p.m. EST

NEW ORLEANS –– Dick Cheney is a Wyoming resident and therefore is constitutionally qualified to serve as George W. Bush's vice president, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

The ruling came from the bench after an hour-long hearing in which lawyers for three Texas residents argued that Cheney had moved to Bush's home state of Texas when he took a job there in 1993.

The three-judge appellate panel took a short recess after the arguments, then Judge Patrick Higginbotham returned to say without elaboration that the panel was in agreement that Cheney clearly is a Wyoming resident.

Higginbotham was appointed by former President Bush. The others – Rhesa H. Barksdale and Jacques L. Wiener Jr. – were Reagan appointees.

The three plaintiffs were prepared to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court if the appeals court sides with a lower court judge, one of their lawyers said before the ruling.

Cheney, a former Wyoming congressman, lived in Dallas while he was chairman of Halliburton Co. until he changed his voting registration to Teton County, Wyo., on July 21 – four days before becoming Bush's running mate.

He or his wife have owned a home in Dallas since 1993, but have entered into a contract to sell the property, which was listed for $3.1 million. Cheney, defense secretary under former President Bush, also owns property in McLean, Va.

The plaintiffs are Dallas-area residents Stephen E. Jones, a Texas Wesleyan University law student, and Linda D. Lydia and Caroline Franco, both housewives.

© Copyright 2000 The Associated Press

Cheney's State Residency Qualified

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