Washington ? Some members of the nation’s largest lawyer group plan to use this week’s annual meeting to criticize the Bush administration’s handling of the terrorism investigation and business scandals.

They will not see President Bush, who skipped a chance to speak to the American Bar Assn. and is taking a vacation at his Texas ranch, or hear from Vice President Dick Cheney or any Cabinet member.

The White House and ABA leaders say the president’s absence has to do with scheduling, not political differences, although Bush and the group have a history of rough relations.

The meetings cover subjects that have dominated the executive branch: how the government should handle enemy combatants and immigrants arrested in the Sept. 11 investigation and how investigators can monitor possible terrorists without violating the Constitution.

The ABA may recommend that Congress intervene and stop the administration from denying access to lawyers for immigrants arrested since Sept. 11 and for those declared enemy combatants by the president. Both issues have disturbed civil libertarians.

A federal judge ordered the Justice Department last week to release the names of more than 1,000 people picked up since the jetliner attacks. An appeal is likely.

“The people want the administration to answer hard questions. This could have provided him an ideal forum for addressing things that are crucial to his administration,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, a law professor at the University of Southern California, who is speaking at the meeting.

The president was also criticized by ABA leaders for his plans for military tribunals after Sept. 11. No one to date has been tried before a tribunal.

Many conservatives view the ABA as liberal-leaning. The group has endorsed a moratorium on the death penalty and weighed in on a woman’s right to have an abortion.

In addition to terrorism issues, the meeting agenda includes discussions on business scandals, cloning and Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft’s fight with Oregon over physician-assisted suicide.