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Supreme Court Rejects Wilson/Plame Suit
The Supreme Court has refused to take up the lawsuit Valerie Plame Wilson and Joe Wilson brought against Bush administration over the exposure of Mrs. Wilson's employment at the CIA.
The justices denied certiorari without comment this morning. A district court judge also rejected the suit, as did the D.C. Circuit in a 2-1 ruling. The lower courts said individuals like the Wilsons could not sue government employees for alleged privacy violations because the law Congress wrote dealing with such violations, the Privacy Act, directs liability to the government.
Last month, the Obama Administration's representative before the high court, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, urged the justices not to hear the case.
The exposure of Wilson's tie to the CIA led to a special counsel investigation of the leak, which in turn resulted in the indictment and conviction of Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby, on obstruction of justice charges. Libby's sentence was later commuted by President George W. Bush.
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23 Comments so far
Show AllSo how is justice served? Ms Plame lost her vocation because of this intentional "security leak"... a "leak" that in any honest democracy would have been declared treasonous since she was an anti terrorist operative - and her exposure subjected many others who had dealings with her to exposure as well. This decision simply screams of injustice and corruption. Our government's three branches are obviously no longer upholding the ideals of our nation. Why do we continue to honor their voices - let alone support them in the style to which they have become accustomed?
Live Simply So That Others May Simply Live
"...a "leak" that in any honest democracy would have been declared treasonous..."
It WAS a violation of a law which was signed by George H.W. Bush, but since when did George W. Bush ever do what his father told him to do.
There are two members of the Supreme Court who should have recused themselves because their appointment to the high court by George Bush was a conflict of interest.
This whole business stinks, and America knows it. The ENTIRE Bush administration should be on trial for their TREASONOUS crimes against the Constitution.
Obama should have issued an Executive Order for their arrest the moment he was sworn in, followed by an order that returned America's laws to where they were before Bush STOLE the White House ... basically declaring _every_ law that George W. Bush signed null and void.
The Republican'ts have been working at destroying the American Constitution ever since Reagan. It's going to take a _looonnnngggg_ time for us to undo the damage that they have done.
Now that he's in the White House, Obama certainly seems to have a different view of what is Constitutional.
Welcome to the Republican Supreme Court.
Thank Gd that the Democrats filibustered.
Oh, yeah... they didn't.
Fake opposition.
The Constitution is upheld ,only ,when it is politically expedient.Laws against Treason are enforced when it is legally convenient.Oaths of office are honored when it doesn't make waves.Taxes are paid when you.. get a job at the Treasury.Peace is made when you have made the world safe for exploitive capitalism by conquering it.Climate change will be debated until the fossil fuels are gone.Single payer health care, will be adopted when hell freezes over,that would be right after elections are publicly financed. "Peace justice and the Amerikan way"are coming soon to a theater near you.Remember the rule of law must be obeyed unless no-one is looking ,you write them, or get to interperet them conveniently.International laws don't need to be obeyed at all just opt. out like the last half a dozen or so U.S. administrations."American Justice" has become an oxymoron! like "Millitary Intellegence ".
We have no choice but to vote for the National Initiative. It will allow us to directly participate in making legislation. Please vote for this:
www.vote.org
I'm sorry Debbie. This is not a joke and it's not sarcasm. The CIA would never permit it. Our "democracy" is really a plutocratic kleptocracy with good PR. Democracy, what little there was left of it after the first half of the 20th century, was crushed by the National Security Act of 1947 when the CIA was created. They let us talk because they know that is all we can do.
This world will end. A better one will replace it. I'm not sure the replacements will be human, though. A species that can't control its' greedy members doesn't deserve to exist.
Yup. I realized years ago that US and USser were both absolute-power states. In the USSR everyone was in a concrete cell, but in America the cell is made of rubber. The illusion of free speech is all we really have.
I am not surprised that the Supremes decided to uphold treason.
The death and disappearance of foreign operatives is of no consequence to these judicial imposters.
What is of more concern is the urging of the Solicitor General to drop the case. She works for Obama and surely this was done with his tacit consent.
We have no doubts about the guilt of Libby and members of the Bush cabal. We must now add the Justices, Kagan the Solicitor General and "change we can believe in" Obama.
ducksauce; I agree with you emotionally in some respects, but the ruling is simply consistent with established law. Unfortunately, it does not permit fully litigating whether or not the individuals acted inside or outside the legitimate scope of their corporate (or in this instance, government) duties. In these circumstances, the ruling was pretty mundane. It would have been overly activist (and dangerous) for the SG to have argued otherwise. It's one of many rules that attempt to fine tune a mechanical watch with a crowbar and a sledge.
I think it's time to "reject" these supreme assholes, don't you?
IMPEACH THE RATS!
R oberts
A lito
T homas
S calia
Appalling decision. Progressive_Patriot is dead right, and I am heartbroken and grieved that such a gross miscarriage of justice has been allowed to stand.
Nothing like passing laws to cover your tracks and secure get out of jail cards....
speaking of, the best kind of laws are retroactive like, retroactive immunity for telecom, eh?
change you can believe in....
...so your future social-networking revolution will be monitored long before you get all of your "friends" at facebook to flash mob...oh, btw way, has Obama's number of friends on facebook increased or decreased?
Another sordid episode of the Bush error where the Cardinal Richelieu of American politics, Dick Cheney, was just given a modern day Papal indulgence by the troglodytes on the US Supreme Court.
Cheney is no Richelieu. Richelieu was able, Cheney is merely enabled.
Has Bush so twisted the DOJ that it still doesn't believe that its sole purpose is to dispense justice?
"Archie1954 June 22nd, 2009 10:36 pm
Has Bush so twisted the DOJ that it still doesn't believe that its sole purpose is to dispense justice?"
THE ARTICLE says the following little "bit".
"Last month, the Obama Administration's representative before the high court, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, urged the justices not to hear the case.
The exposure of Wilson's tie to the CIA led to a special counsel investigation of the leak, which in turn resulted in the indictment and conviction of Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby, on obstruction of justice charges. Libby's sentence was later commuted by President George W. Bush."
NOW, that first paragraph is not about Bush telling the judges to decide one way or the other; it's the Obama administration that did this. And the "justices" obeyed or complied.
The second paragraph, if I understand what happened correctly, says Libby was indicted and this happened while Bush was still officially U.S. President. The commutation is something the President has the power to do, oddly, but nevertheless really, and I don't think he needs the Supreme Court to approve his ruling. The indictment, however, was not by the Bush administration; it was ruled by judges. I am pretty sure it's judges who decide whether indictments or to be made, or not, anyway.
The Bush administration roguely f*cked with the judges, who'd be allowed to stay on, versus not, but those who were approved of by the Bush administration didn't act roguely only to please the Bush administration. They did it because they are rogues, themselves.
It was rather rogue of the Obama administration to urge that the judges deny this lawsuit, imo.
Seems like Osama and the Extremes have just legalized high treason. Are we 'safer' now?
The circuit that excludes any sort of electoral remedy is complete. His cronies on the court installed Bush, the Democrats, either willingly or unwillingly complicit, went along with everything after, thus leaving intact the very organization of the state which people (gullibly or not) voted to overturn in 2006 and 2008, only to discover (as many warned) that the superficially more multi-cultured party intended to keep it all under wraps and intact.
The system cannot be changed by election, and certainly not by any third party.
The Bush Crime Families toadies in black dress strike again!
The American people can never again trust this coprophagous ennead.
"Supreme Court upholds permit to dump waste from Alaska gold mine into lakeH. JOSEF HEBERT | Associated Press Writer
11:21 PM EDT, June 22, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) — A mining company was given the go-ahead by the Supreme Court on Monday to dump waste from an Alaskan gold mine into a nearby 23-acre lake, although the material will kill all of the lake's fish.
The court said that the federal government acted legally in declaring the waste left after metals are extracted from the ore as "fill material" allowing a federal permit without meeting more stringent requirements from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Water Act.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin called the decision "great news for Alaska" and said it "is a green light for responsible resource development." The Kensington gold mine 45 miles north of Juneau will produce as many as 370 jobs when it begins operation."
Yes, 'great news' from the GOP - they get to shove toxic waste down our throats. Again!
At what point will we take this Government back?
I'd rather do it from my house than from a jail
cell where they keep people who think the way I do.
I just love it when so many of you americans get just a 'little taste' of what it is like to be a Native American, and at the mercy of american justice/courts/'circus under the big top'-------
You want to 'scrub em all'----'scream to the roof tops' 'impeach the bastards'------yada yada yada.
The reality of it is that this mess you call America is ALL of your own making.
You may have some time to clean it up----but not likely enough time.
The world has reached its level of tolerance for America, its hyppocracy, duplicity, lies and lies to cover the lies, then denials and more lies to cover the lies that were denied.
America/Americans, you may have one small concession in all of this.
If nothing else, you will have been a 'participant' in the 'creation and maintenance' of "history's primary negative example'.........
For a note of consolation:
After the Circus parade, those guys with scoop shovels are pretty handy, and fill a need.
Good Luck america, you really need it.
Boy, this ruling really sucks!
"A nation of laws and not men..." gimme a break! This decision indicates just the opposite.
Let's hope the Plames keep the lawsuit going somehow. We've all got a stake in this.
Why did Kagan do it?