Plame Lawsuit Dismissed

[romantico]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 3:45pm

Bush wins again!

WASHINGTON — 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 and former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Plame's attorneys had said the lawsuit would be an uphill battle. Public officials are normally immune from such lawsuits filed in connection with their jobs.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/APWires/headlines/D8QFRCA04.html

[romantico]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 3:47pm

some bio info on the judge:

Judge Bates was appointed United States District Judge in December 2001. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1968 and received a J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1976. From 1968 to 1971, he served in the United States Army, including a tour in Vietnam. Judge Bates clerked for Judge Roszel C. Thomsen of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland from 1976 to 1977 and was an associate at Steptoe & Johnson from 1977 to 1980. He served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1980 to 1997, and was Chief of the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office from 1987 to 1997. Judge Bates was on detail as Deputy Independent Counsel for the Whitewater investigation from 1995 to mid-1997. In 1998, he joined the Washington law firm of Miller & Chevalier, where he was Chair of the Government Contracts/Litigation Department and a member of the Executive Committee. Judge Bates has served on the Advisory Committee for Procedures of the D.C. Circuit and on the Civil Justice Reform Committee for the District Court, and as Treasurer of the D.C. Bar, Chairman of the Publications Committee of the D.C. Bar, and Chairman of the Litigation Section of the Federal Bar Association. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. In 2005, he was appointed by Chief Justice Rehnquist to serve on the U.S. Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management. In February 2006, he was appointed by Chief Justice Roberts to serve as a judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/bates-bio.html

Posted: 7/19/07 at 3:49pm

Now I fear we will never know what happened. Republicans are busy writing history as we speak.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 3:54pm

I was going to keep my mouth shut on this, but that image... come on, he WAS democratically elected, at least in the 2004 election.

[HDThoreau2]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 3:59pm

God Bless America!

I hope Patti Lu sings a chorus of "God Bless America" tonight in honor of this great American Day!

Maybe they will even dim the lights at all the Broadway houses.

Do you think Old Joe Wilson will make a round on the Sunday talk shows apologizing to everyone he has slandered??????

Or, he might "frog march" himself in front of the White House.

I'm sorry I just can't stop laughing either, Bryan!

Open up the bottle boys, it's to celebrate the TRUTH!
I Can't Stop Laughing Either, Bryan!

[romantico]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 3:59pm

Which image offends you? I have so many. This comes to mind as a top ten!

[HDThoreau2]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 4:00pm

Whoot! Whoo!

[romantico]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 4:00pm

HD is quiet about the SiCKO thread. He is quiet when we praise SporkGoddess, but a post like this makes him crawl out under his rock to gloat. What a sick little creature!

Updated On: 7/19/07 at 04:00 PM

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 4:00pm

Who's Patti Lu?

[JustAGuy]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 4:03pm

"Who's Patti Lu?"

She's in charge of changing the sheets at the B&B.

[mominator]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 4:04pm

Bush lied and thousands died!

[HDThoreau2]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 4:05pm

Whoot! Whoo!

[romantico]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 4:08pm

John Bates, Federalist Society member
Edited on Thu Jul-19-07 07:23 PM by grasswire
From Buzzflash in 2002

Why is Bush in a rush to have his Federalist Society judges confirmed? The answer is simple: By packing the Federal Courts, the Bush Administration can control two branches of government.

Take the current case of the GAO vs. the White House as an example. Who is legally defending Cheney's untenable position of keeping secret the names of people who participated in the Cheney energy task force? Why it's none other than Ted Olson. Now, Ted is not on the bench, but he's well connected, so to speak, with the Federalist judges currently wearing robes in U.S. Courts. Let's face it, Ted is part of the Scalia, Thomas, Rehnquist inner circle -- and was at the heart of efforts to unseat President Clinton. The Democrats committed a grave injustice in allowing him to be confirmed as Solicitor General, even after learning of his role early on in helping to implement a smear campaign against Clinton through the infamous "Arkansas Project."

Olson knows well the power of the Federalist society judges' willingness to abandon Constitutional principles to advance the interests of their fellow true believers. After all, Olson argued the 2000 Florida vote case on behalf of George W. Bush before the Supreme Court. He understands the effectiveness of a wink and a nod among cronies wearing black robes.

Olson, at the current moment, is preparing to make his December, 2000, Supreme Court appearance on behalf of Bush and Cheney just another "deja vu all over again." The GAO case has been assigned to none other than a Ken Starr protege, Federal Judge John Bates. According to columnist Joshua Micah Marshall, "Judge Bates served as Deputy Independent Counsel under Ken Starr from September 1995 until leaving in March 1997. That year Bates argued the case in which an appeals court ruled that then-First Lady Hillary Clinton had to turn over notes of conversations about Whitewater."

When Bates left the Ken Starr entrapment operation, Starr issued a news release in which Bates was quoted as saying: "It has truly been a privilege to serve with Judge Starr and the rest of the outstanding OIC staff, and I look forward to continuing to work with them in this important effort. Judge Starr has led the investigation with integrity, balanced judgment and extreme care, in the best tradition of prosecutors on behalf of the United States. I also look forward to resuming my responsibilities in the United States Attorney's Office, from which I have been absent for far longer than originally anticipated." According to Marshall, "Bates is a Bush appointee who was confirmed only on December 11th, 2001. He's considered a moderate Republican."


Also he was the judge that dismissed the GAO's request into Cheney's Energy Task force
<http://www.answers.com/topic/energy-task-force >

[mominator]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 4:13pm

HD, you are an annoying gnat. I am sure that the mothers of each and everyone of those brave solders would like to have a word with you.

[Craig]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 4:13pm

"Republicans are busy writing history as we speak. "


You mean re-writing

[wexy]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 4:24pm

I like the bumper sticker I saw last night in Times Square

Cheney} 08
Satan )

[romantico]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 4:28pm

I saw this bumper sticker this weekend. Love it!



Oh, does anyone know why Laura Bush is holding a wand in this picture?

Updated On: 7/19/07 at 04:28 PM

[mominator]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 4:40pm

Wow she does look like the Stepford Wife!

[HDThoreau2]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 5:57pm

No one wants to talk about the Plame case "having no merit?"

I'm shocked.

Updated On: 7/19/07 at 05:57 PM

[HDThoreau2]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 6:01pm

"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."

John D. Bates, the judge who threw the Plame lawsuit out, completely and "without merit!"

[romantico]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 6:16pm

Anyone who thinks this case is closed step right up! I'd like to sell you some beautiful beach front property near a golf course and country club righ outside Bagdad! HD, no idea why your gloating. Leave the debates to SporkGoddess. We all like her. It you we all can't stand! Go slither away!!

[HDThoreau2]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 6:29pm

"I'd like to sell you some beautiful beach front property near a golf course and country club righ outside Bagdad!"

Despite the obvious typos, this is a really """original""" statement. WOW! do these profound arguments work for you, normally?

[romantico]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 6:41pm

Yes they do Coward! Hd, you have so many titles these days. You have bigot. Homophobe.Coward. Liar. All to add to your long list!Oh, but I'm saying this as a close friend HD!

[HDThoreau2]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 6:48pm

The following statement provoked you into this tirade??


No one wants to talk about the Plame case "having no merit?"

I'm shocked.

[romantico]

Posted: 7/19/07 at 6:52pm

Updated On: 7/19/07 at 06:52 PM