Drudge Case Irks Judge

If court documents are any indication, online gossipmeister Matt Drudge and White House adviser Sydney Blumenthal are rolling around in more mud than you could sling with a bulldozer.

An exasperated federal judge has written that Blumenthal, Drudge, and attorneys for both parties have engaged in the "kind of conduct that rightly gives the legal profession a bad name," reports CBS News Producer Deirdre Hester.

Blumenthal and his wife, Jacqueline, filed a $30 million libel suit against Drudge in August 1997 for circulating a rumor on his online Drudge Report that Blumenthal had a history of "spousal abuse." Drudge has retracted the story.

Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court in Washington says that, during the discovery process of Blumenthal's defamation suit against Drudge, both sides have engaged in conduct "replete with examples of rudeness, childish bickering, name-calling, personal attacks, petty arguments, and allegations of stonewalling and badgering of witnesses."

In just-released court documents having to do with discovery matters, the judge wrote that the court would like to remind counsel of a few rudimentary principles:

• "First, if Mr. Blumenthal is 'a very busy man, involved in many high stakes matters that require constant attention' and Mrs. Blumenthal is also 'busy in her job' ... perhaps they are too busy to be plaintiffs in this lawsuitÂ…

"If plaintiffs are too busy for discovery, they are free to drop their lawsuit. The choice is theirs."

"Third, counsel are reminded that they -- not their clients -- have a professional obligation to control the means and methods used to achieve the goals of this litigation and that they must act as professionals even if that requires them to tell their clients that certain tactics are beyond the pale."Friedman also chastises both parties for missing deadlines on discovery requests.

AP
Matt Drudge

While he denies Drudge's motion for sanctions against Blumenthal and his lawyers, he says Drudge and his lawyers may reopen the Blumenthal deposition and further lines of questioning in which Blumenthal has already asserted executive privilege in response to some questions. (Blumenthal has acknowledged that neither he nor his counsel can invoke executive privilege.)

Drudge was also ordered to turn over certain subpoenaed e-mail. For the time being, though, the judge is allowing Drudge to withhold the names of his sources under First Amendment reporter's privilege. And Drudge will not have to disclose the membership of his Legal Defense Fund for discovery purposes to the plaintiffs.