Lawyers for former CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson plan to petition the Supreme Court to review a lawsuit against Vice President Dick Cheney and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, among others, after a federal appeals court this week rejected a rehearing en banc.
Plame and her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, alleged Cheney and other Bush administration officials violated constitutional rights in revealing her identity as an undercover CIA officer. In a 2-1 vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in August affirmed a district judge’s order dismissing the lawsuit saying, among other things, the complaint failed to establish a constitutional issue. Chief Judge David Sentelle was sitting with Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson and Judith Rogers, who dissented.
Watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington participated in representing Plame and Wilson in the suit. “The Wilsons and their counsel are certainly disappointed by the Court of Appeals’ decision, but it is not over yet,” CREW’s executive director, Melanie Sloan, said in a statement. “Now we will petition the Supreme Court to hear the case.” Sloan continued, “There must be consequences when government officials abuse their power and endanger national security for political ends. This is an issue worth fighting over and we will not give up.”
Rogers was the lone judge in the D.C. Circuit who voted for a rehearing en banc. Judges Merrick Garland and Brett Kavanaugh did not participate in the vote.
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