WASHINGTON, July 19, 2007

Valerie Plame's Lawsuit Dismissed

Former CIA Operative Sued Members Of Bush Admininstration Over Identity Leak

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  • Former CIA analyst Valerie Plame testifies on Capitol Hill on March 16, 2007. Her lawsuit against members of the Bush administration for leaking her identity was thrown out on July 19, 2007.

    Former CIA analyst Valerie Plame testifies on Capitol Hill on March 16, 2007. Her lawsuit against members of the Bush administration for leaking her identity was thrown out on July 19, 2007.  (AP Photo)

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(CBS/AP)  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.

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds and said he would not express an opinion on the constitutional arguments. Bates dismissed the case against all defendants: Cheney, White House political adviser Karl Rove, former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

Plame's attorney, Erwin Chemerinsky, says they will appeal, CBS News reports.

CBS News has learned that Judge Bates, who was was appointed by President Bush, has ruled in favor of the Vice President before. In 2002, Bates dismissed a case filed by the General Accounting Office seeking information about the Cheney Energy Task Force meetings.

Plame's attorneys had said the lawsuit would be an uphill battle.

"Today's decision is just the first step in what we have always known would be a long legal battle and we are committed to seeing this case through," Amb. Wilson said in a statement.

Public officials are normally immune from such lawsuits filed in connection with their jobs.

Plame's identity was revealed in a syndicated newspaper column in 2003, shortly after Wilson began criticizing the administration's march to war in Iraq. Plame believes the leak was retribution and that it violated their constitutional rights.

Armitage and Rove were the sources for that article, which touched off a lengthy leak investigation. Nobody was charged with leaking, but Libby was later convicted of lying and obstruction the investigation. President Bush commuted Libby's 2½-year prison term before the former aide served any time.

A message seeking comment was left with Chemerinsky.



© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 293 Comments
by torocaca July 22, 2007 4:44 PM EDT
BTW...this post is about Valerie Plame....

Posted by yamuttya at 06:36 AM : Jul 22, 2007


Yep, and s-temper has made it clear that she is the object of his sexxual fantasies, or perhaps, his sexxual frustrations.

He should run for political office (right-wing, of course). He's good at not answering the questions.
Reply to this comment
by down-ndirty July 22, 2007 2:27 PM EDT
The pharmaceutical industry is driven by profit motive, not by altruism, because good intentions do not result in invention and ingenuity. Posted by S_Temper at 11:31 PM : Jul 21, 2007
__________________

That doesn't explain why prescription drugs are far more expensive in the U.S. than in other countries, especially Canada. Why isn't the cost of "invention and ingenuity" shared?

Also, you didn't say who your presidential choice is.
Reply to this comment
by yamuttya July 22, 2007 11:58 AM EDT
So, what do you end up with when a criminal in office appoints his own judges who end up presiding against his own cases? You get an administration that can do ANY illegal thing it wants... because no one will prosecute! Well, you'll have prosecutors, but the judges they go to will all just dismiss it.... the SUPREME court is Right Wing biased to the extreme now that it doesn't matter WHAT the people want... these guys are all shills for eachother. What we have now is a lawless society of sociopaths who believe they're above the law. The fact is, they are NOW above the law. Period.
Posted by CANYOUTELLME at 03:46 PM : Jul 19, 2007
Reply to this comment
by yamuttya July 22, 2007 10:47 AM EDT
BTW...this post is about Valerie Plame....

We covered health care weeks ago.....
Posted by yamuttya
Reply to this comment
by yamuttya July 22, 2007 9:59 AM EDT
Re: Health care.
The accident was on thursday.
I saw the doc on Friday.( long story , I was a mess , my fault )
The surgery was on Tuesday.
PS, the physio was excellent.
Today , I still play tennis just as badly as I did before the accident.( yes it was my right arm )Total bill......Zip
Health care??? Fantastic !
Reply to this comment
by yamuttya July 22, 2007 9:36 AM EDT
BTW...this post is about Valerie Plame....

We covered health care weeks ago.....
Reply to this comment
by yamuttya July 22, 2007 9:26 AM EDT
yamuttya, if everyone is covered, but everyone gets sh*tty health care, what good is that?Posted by S_Temper

Who told you we get bad health care?
I should know I'm Canadian.
In 2001 I broke a rib, my wrist and my elbow in
a bicycle accident.Toronto's best orthopaedic surgeon put a screw in my wrist and a clamp in my elbow.
Then I got 6 months of physiotherapy.
Today my arm is fine.
Total cost ?
About 10 grand I guess.
Why do I guess?
I have no idea, It was all free.
I've been paying taxes in Canada for a long time.
I paid for it, but it cost me nothing.

That's sh*&^%TTY health care ?
Reply to this comment
by yamuttya July 22, 2007 3:13 AM EDT
If Canada's system is so great, why do they have waiting lists for life-saving surgeries that US citizens don't have to wait for? Yes, we pay more, but we receive better health care.Posted by S_Temper

Not true.

All Canadians are covered. 40 million Americans are not, including millions of kids.
Do Canadians wait? Sure , sometimes, not all the time.....BUT THEY DO GET THE CARE.Tough luck for Americans who cant afford it.

Canadians pay LESS PER CAPITA than Americans and they are all covered.It's civilised.

It's a NO BRAINER , universal health care is vastly superior to the primitive US system.
Use your head !
Reply to this comment
by starleo146 July 21, 2007 11:23 PM EDT
s_temper I like him because to me he exposes the bad in things, he makes us think, everything isn't the way I thought,you are right about his monotone voice but that is funny and makes the documentary. You must of seen it because he did go to France, England, And Canada, not to mention Quantonomo, Cuba, I really thought he exposed our health system as it is ,which to me I felt he was telling us these Pharmaceuticals are making far too much money off of the American people, you got to admit he was right about that.
Reply to this comment
by starleo146 July 21, 2007 10:30 PM EDT
s_temper-- Let's explore that statement-- You vote republican because they are the lesser of two evils. Please tell me once again how the democrats are more evil than the republicans. Have you been reading the paper or do you watch tv EVIL is everywhere in this administration and started in the year 2000 and has progressively gotten worse. We probably wouldn't know anything about it all but when the people voted them out it all came out in the wash. Before we are through with all this we will have to use a lot of clorox to clean up this wash believe me.
Reply to this comment
by starleo146 July 21, 2007 10:13 PM EDT
s_temper You are trying to upset me aren't you? You have to leave Micheal Moore alone he is my hero. Who else would take on the Insurance Company. I bet New Orleans wish they saw that documentary after Katrina. Is there anything good you like beside ice cream or cake.
Reply to this comment
by starleo146 July 21, 2007 10:09 PM EDT
s_temper-- I'm sorry the way you were defending the right-wing God fearing republicans it made me believe you were one. But now that you told me you are a ATHEIST AND A LIBERTARIAN do the two go together? Never mind just thinking out loud back to my original thought, now that I know who you are, and you have every right to be whatever, this is America after all, but my suggestion for you in another post was to open your mind a little well you have to open it A LOT I mean A LOT
Reply to this comment
by down-ndirty July 21, 2007 9:29 PM EDT
Citing Moyers as a source is just as laughable as citing Michael Moore as a source.
Posted by S_Temper at 05:53 PM : Jul 21, 2007


What "impartial" source would you cite?

Reply to this comment
by down-ndirty July 21, 2007 9:26 PM EDT
...guess what - we're going to elect another Republican in 2008... Posted by S_Temper at 01:54 AM : Jul 21, 2007
_________________________

"...WE'RE going to elect...?" You mean "libertarians" are going to elect "another" republican? You don't have a viable candidate of your own? Which republican are you going to elect?

Reply to this comment
by rfield9 July 21, 2007 9:19 PM EDT
- S_Temper - Bill Moyers always takes the liberal side -


If you actually bothered to watch the documentary,
you'd understand it is about accurate vs.
inaccurate journalism. You'd see how Moyers proves
the national "liberal" media simply cheerled the
Iraq invasion and ignored facts known at the time.
PROVES it.

But you are afraid to watch it...


pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html



Thread CC'd to;

CC:
info@aclu.org
info@hillaryclinton.com
info@ipl.org


Only the morons are left on the RNC Titanic my friends.
Only the morons -
Reply to this comment
by starleo146 July 21, 2007 9:09 PM EDT
s_temper What have you got against Micheal Moore he made CNN apologize for trying to disprove his movie Sicko. You my dear sir or mam which ever you are, are the biased one anything that does not resemble republican just isn't right. Open up that mind there is a whole new world waiting for you and before you do that take those blinders off o.k.just so you can see this beautiful new awakenings you will encounter.
Reply to this comment
by starleo146 July 21, 2007 9:01 PM EDT
Yamuttya I forgot to mention this judge John D. Bates was a prosector in the Whitewater case under Ken Starr. We go round and round and where we stop no one knows.
Reply to this comment
by starleo146 July 21, 2007 8:45 PM EDT
rfield9 I love Bill Moyers he is a marvelous journalist and certainly tells it like it is. I wish more journalist would be more like him. This administration has tried time and again to smear him but he shows them up with the facts everytime. I see him on PBS. Thank God for PBS he would be liable to the sponsors of cbs abc nbc. This way he can be a open and honest journalist.
Reply to this comment
by rfield9 July 21, 2007 8:34 PM EDT
S_Temper -

Of course you would have loved to be the one
to go investigate yellowcake in Niger. Then
you could have come back and regurgitated
the BushCo lie that it was true. Real shame
when a perfectly good NeoFacist movement gets
impeded by facts, huh...

;-)


Every American should see the Moyers report
from last month, documenting how our "liberal"
press totally rubberstamped Bush on the pre-war
WMD scam, and failed their mission of true
information. The disproof of it was known at the
time, simply not reported by liberal bastions NYT
and Washington Post. Knight-Ridder had it, and
the national media ignored it.

You can watch it on your computer;

http://pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html


You won't be getting up once you start into it,
it's riveting. Pass the link on please -

Reply to this comment
by starleo146 July 21, 2007 8:34 PM EDT
Valerie Plame was a CIA covert and she was minding her own business doing her job until her husband went on tv and said Bush lied about WMD and explained his trip to Niger etc. etc. It made Cheney so mad he started spreading this and that and her name became public. This is against the law my friend it puts a lot of people in danger and as far as I know this is the first time ever someone had the audacity to do it. He didn't take the blame he got Libby to take the fall. Do you s_temper see a democrat in this piece anywhere.
Reply to this comment
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