As expected, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) - nicknamed around here "Congressman-for-life" - has appealed the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals 2-1 decision that said that he does indeed owe Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) damages and legal fees, from his leaking an illegally obtained telephone conversation between Boehner and then House speaker Newt Gingrich.
McDermott says that the March 28th ruling is " "both unsound in principle and unworkable in practice," adding that it "will chill the disclosure of truthful information on matters of public concern. Clear and authoritative legal guidance here is imperative, especially for the media, which routinely receive information in all sorts of ways from all sorts of sources." ", and that his case is a First Amendment issue.
Jim, I have news for you. The issue here isn't a First Amendment issue at all. The issue here is that the telephone conversation you leaked to the press was illegally obtained - in essence, it was a warrantless wiretap, something you and your cronies are all in a tizzy about regarding the NSA surveillance program, which is a legal undertaking. The people who recorded that conversation broke the law, and then you essentially conspired with them when you leaked the taped conversation to the press.
"Kevin Madden, a spokesman for Boehner, said McDermott "has a chronically defective legal argument, based on a reprehensible political argument. Everyone expects political adversaries to disagree, but unfortunately Jim McDermott took it a step too far, and he broke federal law in pursuit of his political opponents." [Emphasis mine]
That statement about sums it up, Jim.
No comments:
Post a Comment