by Frank James
First President Bush gave I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby clemency, keeping the former senior White House aide him from serving prison time for his conviction in the CIA leak case.
Now, a federal judge has dismissed Valerie Plame lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds.
It appears that Plame, the former CIA employee and her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, aren’t experiencing the kind of vindication through the legal process they had hoped for.
Here’s the Associated Press report:
By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.
Wilson, who incurred the White House’s ire for accusing it of cooking the intelligence in the runup to the Iraq War, once colorfully said he hoped to see Karl Rove, Bush’s political guru, “frog-marched” from the White House.
Not only is he apparently not going to see any Rovian frog-marching, whatever that is, but he’s not even going to have the pleasure of seeing Rove on the witness stand in a federal courtroom.
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