A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by outed spy Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband against Vice President Dick Cheney and other top Bush administration officials.
A judge threw out the lawsuit by ex-spy Valerie Plame Wilson and husband Joseph Wilson.
Plame had accused members of the Bush administration of leaking her identity.
U.S. District Judge John Bates ruled that the lawsuit raises "important questions relating to the propriety of actions undertaken by our highest government officials" -- but in a 41-page decision, Bates found the Wilsons failed to show the case belongs in federal court.
"Important questions"...left unanswered.
Dismissed on "jurisdictional grounds".
WaPo version quite different from the others. How do you go from the AP version: "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" to this:
U.S. District Judge John D. Bates said that Cheney and White House aides cannot be held liable for the disclosure of information about Plame in the summer of 2003 while they were trying to rebut criticism of the administration's war efforts levied by her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. The judge said such efforts were certainly part of the officials' scope of normal duties.
Bizarro.
Judge's decision here (pdf).
