WASHINGTON, June 22, 2009
Supreme Court Won't Revive CIA Leak Case
Valerie Plame Wanted Court To Overturn Ruling That Threw Out Lawsuit Against Cheney And Other Officials
-
Former CIA analyst Valerie Plame testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, March 16, 2007, before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. (AP Photo)
-
Interactive The Leak People and events surrounding the leak of a CIA officer's name.
The court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.
A lower court last year threw out the lawsuit in which Plame and Wilson accused former Vice President Dick Cheney and several former high-ranking administration officials of disclosing her identity to reporters in 2003. Plame and Wilson said that violated their constitutional rights.
The lawsuit named former presidential adviser Karl Rove; Cheney's former top aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby; and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.
The U.S. Court of Appeals said that Plame and Wilson did not meet the legal standard for constitutional claims, in part because the lawsuit hinges on alleged violations of the Privacy Act - a law that does not cover the president or the vice president's offices.
Armitage was the original source for a 2003 newspaper column identifying Plame as a CIA officer. At the time, her husband was criticizing the Bush administration's prewar intelligence on Iraq and had become a thorn in the side of the White House. Rove also discussed Plame's employment with reporters.
The leak touched off a lengthy investigation that resulted in Libby's conviction for obstruction and lying to investigators. Jurors found that he told reporters about Plame and lied about it to the FBI and a federal grand jury. President George W. Bush commuted Libby's sentence before he ever served a day in prison.
Nobody was ever charged with the leak itself and Plame's lawsuit is one of the last remaining legal issues associated with the case.
© MMIX The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
More From Politics
Add a Comment See all 21 Comments
- Plame as a CIA officer!!!! What did she do for the CIA? Was she undercover?
- Reply to this comment
-
- What did she do for the CIA? If she told that then it would not be covert would it. Why would a grand Jury be summoned for a law that had not been broken, c'mon I appreciate your loyalty, but really Cheney is guilty of this and he let his friend take a fall, and thought he would get pardoned,,,, but Bush knew Cheney was guilty and would not completely pardon him just kept him out of prison, It is still on his record.Cheney was livid with Bush about that.
- People should protest on the streets the way the Iranians do...
- Reply to this comment
- No surprise with this ruling since republicans control the Supreme Court. Bush was their boy in the whitehouse you should recall. It is disgusting that justice can be denied for heinous acts of treason and corruption that took place under Bush and Cheney.
- Reply to this comment
- The U.S. Court of Appeals said that Plame and Wilson did not meet the legal standard for constitutional claims
What a joke. This supreme court is full of thugs. - Reply to this comment
- she was not covert and the leaker was Richard Armitage. But I guess facts don't matter.
- Reply to this comment
- We should all out agents or break any other US law. As long as the law does not mention us specifically by name or job title--we all should get off, scott free.
- Reply to this comment
- "The U.S. Court of Appeals said that Plame and Wilson did not meet the legal standard for constitutional claims, in part because the lawsuit hinges on alleged violations of the Privacy Act - a law that does not cover the president or the vice president's offices."
..so when people continually say "no man is above the law" they forgot the second verse? "..except the President or Vice President"? - Reply to this comment
- Congress, White house, SCOTUS--all peopled by lawyers or former lawyers. Lawyers and the system always works to protect each other.If they prosecute an errant judge or attorney--it is NOT because that person is simply bad or corrupt--it is because that person has run afoul of their club and as a member of the club --NOT in good standing--is "allowed" to be punished. Cops, Lawyers and Judges have always been above the law--no matter what form their next office is in.
- Reply to this comment
- Inequality and injustice for all ..............
- Reply to this comment
- "If the law in question does not pertain to the President and Vice-President then no law has been broken."
If a law is passed pertaining to all the people of the US, and not to the President and Vice-President, then the law in itself is a violation of the Constitution. - Reply to this comment
- Some poswters really lack common sense and a sense of fair play. The Supreme Court is not packed with Republicans. The Supreme Court is evenly divided between liberals and conservat6ives. That is called balance. Further, the Supreme Court got this right. If the law in question does not pertain to the President and Vice-President then no law has been broken. This same law would apply to President Obama and Vice-President Biden. When people are motivated by their dislike of Republicans, their objectivity and sense of fair play is woefully lacking. The same is true of people who are motivated by their dislike of Democrats.
- Reply to this comment
- No surprise here. Did anyone actually think the Supremes were going to take a case that might force a trial for Cheney or Turd Blossem on criminal charges. Heck one phone call took care of that case.
- Reply to this comment
-
- When are you libs going to get it? The woman WAS NOT A COVERT OPERATIVE!!! Therefore, she could not be outed as one. She was an analyst at CIA headquarters. She drove through the main gate at Langley every day. There was nothing covert about her. No one in the Bush administration broke any law with regard to her covert status because there wasn't one. Yes, at one time Plame was a covert Op but was brought home in the late 90s when it was feared that her cover was compromised by a spy. From that point on she was just another CIA desk jockey -- an acknowledged one, for that matter. Hence the fact that she worked at headquarters for heaven's sake! Please give this a rest libs. There is nothing here.
- [A lower court last year threw out the lawsuit in which Plame and Wilson accused former Vice President Dick Cheney and several former high-ranking administration officials of disclosing her identity to reporters in 2003. Plame and Wilson said that violated their constitutional rights.]
what's that ... they want to have due process for what they think is a violation of their rights? they should have filed the case twenty years ago ... when these principles kinda/sorta meant anything.
nowadays ... the government can p!ss on your constitutionally guaranteed rights (torture, wiretapping, due process, fos) ... claim it was all legal because some ideologue attorney said so ... then when you file suit to get redress for the initial violation ... they'll claim 'state secrets' to avoid having to respond ... and the judge will throw the case out.
so ... effectively ... the first violation was illegal ... only to be followed by the second violation when you were trying to get the first violation addressed ... and they chose to throw it out.
there used to be this statement in the constitution that read as follows:
'congress shall pass no law abridging the freedom ... '
and apparently this has been removed in the latest version of the doc.
gwb was right when he said that the constitution was 'just a godd@mn piece of paper' ... because it's not doing anything that it was intended to do ... protect individual rights. - Reply to this comment
- This is what you get with a court packed with Republicans. No justice and the criminals in their own party go free.
- Reply to this comment
-
- There is no justice for this woman who lost her job, Cheney who lived in the CIA,WHILE VICE PRESIDENT, certainly had a hand in putting her name out there, IT IS against the law,to out a CIA representative, he let his friend take the fall for it, a cloud will always be over the Bush administration for that, for torture, for Iraq, this man has a lot in common with Khomeni in Iran, the Supreme leader.No difference a lie is a lie and a fixed Supreme Court is the same thing. This is not the first time the supreme court went to bat for Bush and Cheney, remember Gore,If they can't go by RULE OF LAW WHO WILL.
- Cheney wasn't worried for a second. He can ignore generals, the Congress and the Supreme Court.
- Reply to this comment
How gold pays for 
