Ex-CIA Agent's Suit Against Top Officials Is Dismissed

by Josh Gerstein - July 20th, 2007 - The New York Sun

In a 41-page ruling yesterday, Judge John Bates concluded that the lawsuit was fatally flawed even if Ms. Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson IV, could prove the existence of a high-level conspiracy to punish her for Mr. Wilson's criticism of the White House's statements on Iraq.

When they filed their suit a year ago, the couple claimed their constitutional rights were violated by Mr. Cheney, his former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., and a top White House political adviser, Karl Rove. In September, after it emerged that a former deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, triggered the first published mention of Ms. Plame's CIA connection, the couple added Mr. Armitage as a defendant in the case. "Obviously, we're very, very pleased," an attorney for Libby, Alex Bourelly, told The New York Sun yesterday. Libby's defenders and other administration allies have deemed the lawsuit to be a political vendetta.

[snip]

Judge Bates's ruling rested primarily on the grounds that, while Congress has established a legal mechanism for addressing leaks of personal information, Ms. Plame and Mr. Wilson did not avail themselves of it.

The arrogance of this couple continues. Joe Wilson launched a political attack on the President and his policies and then tried to hide the fact that his wife had arranged for his involvement while she was in the CIA. He wanted to insist on the truthfullness of attacks that are believed lies by many . . . . while denying the ability of anyone he attacked to respond to his attack. Any defense that did not point out his wife's actions had to ignore his claim he was sent on an investigation by the Vice President, something that was completely false. He was in fact sent at the request of his wife who, like him, was a democrat partisan who happened to work at the CIA.

The partisan nature of this attack is verified by the following. The Wilson's made claims in their filing in this case that were disproved by Fitzgerald investigation where he went after Scooter Libby. Though they added Armitage to their case, a man who was a political enemy of the President, they failed to remove both Rove and Cheney who it was clear were never involved in any of the actions that led to the publicity of the CIA status of Plame.

The essence of the Judges ruling is that it is well settled law that you cannot deny someone in policy positions the right to defend those policies just because you feel that to do so might violate someone else's rights. Especially in this case where, if the wife's rights were violated, it was under a criminal law that would have to reach the level of "guilt beyond resonable doubt" and which the Wilson's never tried to pursue. The Wilson's filed the lawsuit not under the applicable criminal law, but under civil law, trying to gain two illegal advantages. First they wanted to prove guilt under the easier civil law "preponderance of the evidence" level for a criminal wrong (something not permitted in our system). Second they wanted to obtain civil damamges not possible under the criminal law either.

The Judge threw out both attempts based on well settled law.

Complete text of the Judges Ruling is available here.

The Wilson's are making a fortune on appearances based on the infamy of this case. To keep their fame in the public eye they are now insisting they will take it to the Supreme Court.

It is clear that the Wilson's had the misfortune to get a conservative judge who would not abuse justice like the judge in the Scooter Libby case. It is frightening to realize that the ruling here reflected only the political position of one judge. You can NEVER be sure what an American Court will rule since the "rule of law" has been abandoned and we now operate under the "rule of judges". Even a ruling that is just still proves the corrupt nature of our current courts.