Article

2007-07-19 -Lurid Crime Tales-

A federal judge today dismissed a lawsuit filed by former CIA officer Valerie Plame and her husband against Vice President Cheney and top administration officials over the disclosure of Plame's name and covert status to the media.

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates said that Cheney and White House aides cannot be held liable for the disclosure of information about Plame in the summer of 2003 while they were trying to rebut criticism of the administration's war efforts levied by her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. The judge said such efforts were certainly part of the officials' scope of normal duties.

The perjury trial of Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff calls up high-profile witnesses.

"The alleged tortious conduct, namely the disclosure of Mrs. Wilson's status as a covert operative, was incidental to the kind of conduct that defendants were employed to perform," Bates wrote in an opinion released this afternoon.

Bates also ruled that the court lacked the power to award damages for public disclosure of private information about Plame. The judge said that was because Plame and Wilson had failed to exhaust other remedies in seeking compensation from appropriate federal agencies for the alleged privacy violations.

The Wilsons' lawsuit claimed that Cheney, his chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, senior White House adviser Karl Rove and former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage violated the couple's privacy and constitutional rights by participating in discussions that led to Plame's identity being publicly revealed. They claimed the leaks to reporters were an effort to retaliate against Wilson.

Posted by Sherry 2007-07-19 16:17|| || Front Page|| [11 views ] Top

#1 I got a extra super special important Breaking News Alert from WaPo.

:: smirk this, Kosmonutz ::

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2007-07-19 16:25|| 2007-07-19 16:25|| Front Page Top

#2 Seafarious -- mine, also, came as a super duper alert from WAPO. Interesting, I've yet to get a Fox alert!

Posted by Sherry 2007-07-19 16:42|| 2007-07-19 16:42|| Front Page Top

#3 No CNN alert neither. LOL!

Posted by Deacon Blues">Deacon Blues 2007-07-19 16:47|| 2007-07-19 16:47|| Front Page Top

#4 So what was it titled, Rove Supression of Dissent Continues?

Posted by tu3031 2007-07-19 16:49|| 2007-07-19 16:49|| Front Page Top

#5 LOL. To the barricades!

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2007-07-19 16:49|| 2007-07-19 16:49|| Front Page Top

#6 I note over the transom mentions that Bates was involved with the Whitewater investigation, too.

Heads are going to explode all over the sinistrosphere.

Posted by eLarson 2007-07-19 17:02|| http://larsonian.blogspot.com]">[http://larsonian.blogspot.com] 2007-07-19 17:02|| Front Page Top

#7 Fame has been plucked.

...and versa-vicea.

Posted by WTF 2007-07-19 23:41|| 2007-07-19 23:41|| Front Page Top