Judge Dismisses Plame Civil Suit Against Cheney, Rove, And Libby

[gatorboy]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/07/19/judge-dismisses-plame-civ_n_56971.html

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed former CIA operative Valerie Plame's lawsuit against members of the Bush administration in the CIA leak scandal.

Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, had accused Vice President Dick Cheney and others of conspiring to leak her identity in 2003. Plame said that violated her privacy rights and was illegal retribution for her husband's criticism of the administration.

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A bought-and-paid-for Judiciary system can do wonders!

[RDANGELO]

1. Can this be appealed? n/t

[stellanoir]

3. Yup and it will be

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1379523

[emulatorloo]

2. "U.S. District Judge John D. Bates dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds"

<snip>

While Bates did not address the constitutional questions, he seemed to side with administration officials who said they were acting within their job duties. Plame had argued that what they did was illegal and outside the scope of their government jobs.

"The alleged means by which defendants chose to rebut Mr. Wilson's comments and attack his credibility may have been highly unsavory, " Bates wrote. "But there can be no serious dispute that the act of rebutting public criticism, such as that levied by Mr. Wilson against the Bush administration's handling of prewar foreign intelligence, by speaking with members of the press is within the scope of defendants' duties as high-level Executive Branch officials."

<snip>

So all is far in love and war, I guess.

[speakclearly]

4. Yikes!...........

Now all the freepers will say that Bush has been vindicated. No one was charged with leaking, and teh civil suit about a conspiracy to ruin her reputation was dismissed. Appeals will last for years, but this will be what the public sees on the nightly news tonight and what will resonate after all the allegations that were made about Bush, Cheney, and Rove. How can we spin this?

[Toots]

5. Bottom line is a Covert CIA Agent is no longer in operation and neither is her network

Brewster Jennings Inc has been undone and the entire network of Intelligence on Nuclear Proliferation in Eastern Europe and Mid East is defunct. Are they happy about that?

[ellenfl]

6. essentially, the judge said that it is ok to out a cia

covert operative to rebut government critics. that's what the judge said.

"The alleged means by which defendants chose to rebut Mr. Wilson's comments and attack his credibility may have been highly unsavory, " Bates wrote. "But there can be no serious dispute that the act of rebutting public criticism, such as that levied by Mr. Wilson against the Bush administration's handling of prewar foreign intelligence, by speaking with members of the press is within the scope of defendants' duties as high-level Executive Branch officials."

wow. just wow.

ellen fl