Plame Lawsuit Against Cheney Et Al Dismissed, Will Media Care?

August 12th, 2008 4:55 PM

Valerie Plame was dealt another setback Tuesday when a U.S. court of appeals upheld a federal judge's decision to dismiss her lawsuit against members of the Bush administration.

Given the media's fascination with this former CIA operative who has claimed for years she was illegally outed by the White House for political reasons, it will be interesting to see just how much attention this ruling gets in the next 48 hours.

As reported by Reuters:

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday dismissed former CIA analyst Valerie Plame's lawsuit against Vice President Dick Cheney and several former Bush administration officials for disclosing her identity to the public. [...]

Plame and [husband Joe] Wilson sought money damages from Cheney, Libby, former White House aide Karl Rove and former State Department official Richard Armitage for violating their constitutional free speech, due process and privacy rights.

But a three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld a federal judge's ruling that dismissed the couple's lawsuit.

The court ruled Cheney and the others were acting within their official capacity when they revealed Plame's identity to reporters.

It goes without saying that if the court ruled in her favor, this would have been prominently covered by every news agency including the broadcast network evening programs.

Somehow it seems doubtful this dismissal will be so aggressively reported. I wonder why.