Dirty Democrat files: Supreme Court rejects crazy hypocrite Jim McDermott’s appeal in illegal taping case
Justice long delayed, but justice nonetheless. The Supreme Court has the final word on the case of Seattle Dem Rep. Jim McDermott’s leaking of the contents of an illegally recorded cell phone conversation between former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. John A. Boehner:
U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott says he’s disappointed the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to consider his appeal.
He says he believes he had a First Amendment free speech case.
Today’s decision leaves a federal appeals court ruling in place. The court said that McDermott should not have leaked a tape-recorded phone call to newspapers. It recorded Republican leaders in 1996 discussing the ethics case against former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
The ruling upholds a previous decision ordering McDermott to pay House Minority Leader John Boehner, (BAY’-ner) of Ohio, who was one of the people on the call. The amount is still being determined but it could be more than $700,000.
Time to pay up and shut up.
I received the following statement from Rep. Boehner today:
“As I’ve said many times: when you break the law in pursuit of a political opponent, you’ve gone too far. Members of Congress have a responsibility not only to obey the laws of our country and the rules of our institution, but also to defend the integrity of those laws and rules when they are violated. That’s why I chose this course of action nearly a decade ago. It was the right fight for the right reasons, and I am pleased to see it reach a successful conclusion today. I want to express my appreciation for the support of my constituents and the many individuals throughout our country who have supported my efforts to ensure justice is done in this matter.”
You may recall that dirty Dem McDermott had the chutzpah to complain about the NSA’s warrantless surveillance program amid his illegal taping scandal.
Most ethical House in history, eh, Nancy?
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Previous McDermott/Boehner coverage here.
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This lawsuit dates back to 1998! Justice delayed, indeed.
Really though, why should we wiretap al Qaeda when we have the much more important job of wiretapping Republicans…
Baghdad Jim deserves a swift kick in his fat liberal behind.
I hope it costs him dearly! What a piece of scum.
$700,000 sure is a small start from the currupt-o-crats…but we’ll take it!!!
Put the 700k in the gov. bailout..boo hoo fund.
Since WHEN is someone’s private conversation that’s illegally taped free speech?
If that’s the case, then I suppose McDermott wouldn’t mind if we taped his private phone conversations and made them available to the world now, would he?
Murtha next for his conduct against our Marines. Let’s start swinging these people.
Justice delayed, but still justice.
This is very good news. When the story first broke I never thought the idiot would be in any trouble at all. It’s nice to see people finally get what they deserve.
Thas just Boehner. I think every republican involved in that call should now sue McDermott.
let me see, wire tapping at the watergate hotel results: president resigns, and those responsible in jail. but, when a dem wire taps it is free speech. ah, yea, Boeyner’s free speech invaded, but i can see where this twist was intended to go. you corrupt punk, you McDermott.
If it were truly a free speech issue, then the case would have had to be against the law which made the taping illegal in the first place. Defending oneself by claiming that “I broke the law, but I shouldn’t be held accountable” is hardly a viable defense. Glad to see the SCOTUS recognize that there was no more to do there than had already been cleanly decided by the lower court. SOB broke the law and got caught, end of story. No way that should have taken 9 years to work out … but glad it finally stuck.
Damn. Being from Washington it seems I don’t get much good news on the political front. At least not when is concerns our lawmakers. This is one of the rare occasions when the right thing was finally done. Thank God.
Yeah for Boehner!! He won a civil court case…he gets paid…yeah…and then he has the audacity to lecture about Members of Congress having the responsibility of obeying the laws of the land? Puh-lease!
Where is the penal prosecution of McDermratt taking place? How long do the citizens of this country have to wait to get paid by seeing the rat punished in a penal court?
They protect their own, regardless of party affiliation. They enact “rules” of conduct, but generally, party-line voting nullifies guilt in committee. Pathetic.
This case resolution would have had more import had it a timely conclusion. Right now, it’s just old news, and unless I’m wrong, really only benefits John Boehner. No consequences for anyone else?
Good to see McDermott finally get what is coming to him and have to pay the injured party. The wheels of justice move slowly, but this time it appears it will be well worth the wait. The most ethical Congress in history continues to live up to their political parties mascot.
Lawmakers…Lawbreakers…Finepayers…
A rose by any other name still smells.
I’m tempted to say ‘snore’ based on the fact that there are so many other crimes that the Dems are getting away with. (Like Hillary’s campaign finance issues)
However, after seeing so many of the crappy, un-constitutional rulings the Supreme Court has made in the past few years, I guess we should take our victories where and when we can.
Notice the piece used Bush’s trick of spelling out how the name sounds. Thought that was a no no! Bay’ ner.
@John Ansell
LOL, I hadn’t really caught that … but you’re right. Isn’t phonetic spelling the mark of idiocy or something pathetic like that? As usual, we just have to point out that the man beat them solid. Twice.
We residents of Washington have come to understand freedom of speech in a different way than the other 49 states. For example, our dead can express their freedom of speech through the vote. Our living can express their freedom of speech through massive voter fraud. Our children can express theirs by donning masks and breaking store-front glass. Our politicians can conduct illegal phone-tapping and release the results. Our judges expressed it by ensuring that Gregoire “won” the Governorship of the state, regardless of the actual vote. Our schools express it by keeping Christmas off the calendar so that we can freely point it out. Seriously, where is the issue???
But despite all of this, I will be there in a heartbeat, come retirement!
I would think at this point, Baghdad Jim committed a crime (one much lower than treason, mind you) and should be sent packing from the House of Reprehensibles….
If Queen Nancy applied her “ethics” evenly, that is.
NE-E-E-X-X-T…!
Ah yes, Jim “I’m almost as much of an embarrassment to Irish-Americans as Ted Kennedy” McDermott. One of the original socialists-wrapped-in-liberals-clothing to give wiretapping a bad name.
Wasn’t he also the pantload who flew to be beside Saddam’s throne, just days before Iraq War ’03, and tried to declare “peace in our time?”
Ha! Perfect.
Baghdad Jim? A late slap on the wrist, and he’s still the darling of the crazies in Seattle (my former home).
Next, he’ll be overseeing the gubernatorial elections for strict prevention of ballot-stuffing.
So when will he be jailed for the illegal tapings?
Oh, wait, that’s right…
Never.
Too bad Boehner can’t collect interest considering how little a dollar is worth today compared to 1998.
And speaking of worthless piles…
What’s up with Jack “Sued for defamation” Murtha? I am dying to see the results of the discovery phase…
A sad state of affairs when the civil consequences take priority over the criminal offenses being ignored by these politicians.
How about a congressional ethics committee investigation?
Nevermind. That’s only for Republicans. Move along. Democrats don’t have any ethics, it doesn’t apply.
Indeed.
Boehner paid? Remember OJ? The civil courts can rule but they cannot enforce the penalties. There are no penal or criminal repercussions because it’s politics of the parties above the people as usual. ALL politicians must be held accountable but I fear this battle is already lost as well. I wish I could still believe in the Republican party but I am so far to the right of Republican that it is not funny. Unless we can begin holding ALL of them legally responsible … well I am just afraid that is never going to happen again.
I wonder what will happen with the DC gun ban. That one is a lot more important to many of us but the constitution? It all depends on how the judges feeeeeeeeeel.
Partisan Politics as usual. Nothing to see here!
I wonder if old Jim would buy the same free speech argument if the Bush administration used it before congress to justify recording terrorist phone calls without a warrant. (Of course, I’ve always wondered how any US judge could have juristiction over an overseas terrorist in the first place. The constitution gives power over foreign affairs to the president, not the courts.)
If all speach is protected under the constitution, then Scooter Libby has a good reason for appeal. He was convicted for what he said, not for what he did. Yes, he was convicted of lying, but at least it was original speach and not a recording.
Actually, if I am not mistaken, to lie means intentional deceit or at least a misrepresentation of facts as they should be known to any reasonable person. In the case of Scooter Libby, it seems to me personally like he was convicted for forgetting something he said, not blatantly perjuring himself like some people
isdid.IMHO
The wimp Republicans should be calling for him to resign from office.. But like I said they are wimps….
How about this for a double standard: Nixon gets impeached for eavesdropping on the Democrats, but the Democrats get a free pass from just about everyone for this and a bunch of other spying incidents.
Is the press an instrument of the Democrat party, or is the Democrat party an instrument of the press? Or are they co-equal partners pursuing the destruction of the U.S. as it exists? Does it matter? Actually, no. What matters is that we understand that neither is ever, ever to be believed.