Judge: breaking the law, betraying the nation is part of Libby, Cheney’s official duties
Posted by Charles II on July 19, 2007
I wish that were a joke headline. But when the Plame civil suit is dismissed because a judge says that the crime whose investigation Scooter Libby obstructed [was part of the normal duties of his office], one can say that the law is completely perverted into political ends.
And the bad actor, US District Judge John Bates,was a member of Ken Starr’s team.
(Thanks to Mike Clark at Buzzflash and Thom, commenting at Avedon’s Sideshow)
[Corrected 7/23]
6 Responses to “Judge: breaking the law, betraying the nation is part of Libby, Cheney’s official duties”
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Mercury Rising 鳯女 
No Oil for Pacifists said
To the contrary, changing official policy via suits for money damages against government officials would be “pervert[ing law] into political ends.” In our system, political ends are achieved by political, not legal, means: elections. America is a republic and a democracy, where disputes — unless specifically settled in the Constitution — are resolved by the will of the people, i.e., popular sovereignty. So quit suing: You’ll get your say next November.
Charles said
This is nonsense.
Disputes, particularly those involving the loss of employment and hence the deprivation of property have been decided by torts since forever.
And, no, I am not going to read your silly little blog.
No Oil for Pacifists said
In addition to declining to look at my post, you also apparently didn’t read the opinion: Plame/Wilson did not claim any adverse employment actions, see slip op. at 16 n.3.
Is refusing to read the opposition, check facts or look-up the law “liberal”?
Charles said
Not only did I not specify anything with respect to the basis of this lawsuit as you falsely imply, it turns out that you’re simply lying:
43. As a result of the Defendants’ actions, Mrs. Wilson was impaired in her ability to carry out her duties at the CIA, and to pursue her career there serving her country, as she had planned.
44. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have been impaired in pursing professional opportunities as a result of the Defendants’ actions….
60. The Defendants’ actions described herein violate the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits government officials from depriving any individual of a property interest in employment without due process.
Yes, the Wilsons may have considered the possibility of being murdered by Iranian agents or the reality of a president so out of control that he uses top officials as a Mafia to be more noteworthy than the simple loss of salary. The facts remain that (a) this is a dispute involving the loss of a career and (b) that economic damages as demonstrated by loss of salary are what judgments usually comes down to.
Now you can apologize and depart quietly. Or, you can continue to drown in your own bile and ignorance and I can ban you. But I am not going to waste a precious moment of life on a person coming here purely to pick a fight.
Phoenix Woman said
Charles, I see that our little Bush apologist seems to think that Cheney’s ordering the outing of an undercover CIA agent and destroying her overseas spy network is just peachy.
Valerie Plame was in charge of the CIA team that was tasked with seeing if Saddam still had any usable WMD from the stockpiles that Cheney and Rumsfeld gave him during the Reagan and Bush I Administrations. As such, she had a carefully-crafted cover that included a fake job with a shell company called Brewster-Jennings. She had contacts and operatives throughout the Middle East, including Iraq. Anyone wanna guess as to what the insurgents would likely do to an Iraqi who was in regular contact with someone just revealed to be a CIA agent?
But our little troll doesn’t care about that. Typical amoral right-winger.
Charles said
You have an elevated sense of morality, PW.
Me, I just want MercRising to be a pleasant place where people of different persuasions can post politely and find a common path.
Or, more succinctly, life is too short to spend it arguing with a–holes.