Final Hours

Cheney Lands in Wheelchair

But wins court case.

You have to give Dick Cheney credit: eight years ago his frail heart was a major question mark, and yet he leaves the White House in hearty enough shape even if a hunting buddy or two is a little worse for wear. Well, almost—the Vice President wrenched his back while moving out and will attend Obama's inauguration in a wheelchair. In a spot of good news for Cheney, however, a federal judge knocked down a lawsuit brought on by historians that charged that the notoriously secretive VP was conspiring to keep his records out of the National Archives. The plaintiffs complain that without a government injunction, Cheney's office will ignore laws regarding preservation of various records associated with the administration. "Why did he fight this order so much if he did not have the intent to leave with these papers? I'm guessing that a lot of it will not be there," a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, Stanley I. Kutler, said.