It’s hard to overstate how interesting this might be.
Valerie [tag]Plame [/tag]Wilson, Ambassador Joseph [tag]Wilson[/tag] and their counsel, Christopher Wolf of Proskauer Rose LLP, will hold a news conference at 10 AM EDT on Friday, July 14 at 10:00 AM at the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC 20045, to announce the filing of a [tag]civil[/tag] [tag]lawsuit[/tag] against I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice-President Richard Cheney and Karl Rove.
The possibility of a [tag]civil suit[/tag] in this scandal has been in the background almost from the beginning. The Wilsons put the issue aside while the criminal investigation was ongoing, but now that Patrick [tag]Fitzgerald[/tag] has wrapped up his probe, it is, as Atrios put it, “game on.”
Remember, [tag]Paula Jones[/tag]’ civil suit against [tag]Clinton[/tag] led the Supreme Court to rule unanimously that these cases can proceed, even against a sitting president, so it’s not as if Bush’s allies are in a position to tell the Wilsons to wait a couple of years.
Consider, for a moment, just how interesting discovery in this case is likely to be. A decade ago, Jones’ lawyers used a civil suit to ask all manner of interesting questions, force White House officials to deliver under-oath depositions, and fish around for politically damaging information — which, if I recall, they found.
With this in mind, the Wilsons’ lawyers will likely get [tag]Cheney[/tag], [tag]Rove[/tag], [tag]Libby[/tag], and others — including, possibly, George W. [tag]Bush[/tag] — to answer questions, well beyond the scope of Fitzgerald’s narrow investigation. The possibilities are limitless….
Update: The AP and E&P have more.
The suit accuses the defendants of violating the Wilsons’ constitutional and other legal rights as a result of “a conspiracy among current and former high-level officials in the White House” to “discredit, punish and seek revenge against” Joseph Wilson for publicly disputing statements made by President Bush in his 2003 State of the Union address justifying the war in Iraq.
As a result of Cheney, Libby and Rove’s conduct, the suit claims that the Wilsons have suffered violations of their rights guaranteed under the United States Constitution and by laws of the District of Columbia.
The complaint specifies that each of the Wilsons has been deprived of their First and Fifth Amendment rights; each has suffered a gross invasion of their privacy; each has been impaired in pursuing professional opportunities; and that they fear for their safety and the safety of their children as a result of the wrongful public disclosures. In addition, the complaint alleges that Valerie Wilson was impaired in her ability to carry out her duties at the CIA, and to pursue her career at the agency in further service to her country, as she had planned. While no specific dollar amount is requested, the suit seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees and costs.
Second Update: For more detailed legal analysis, Brooklyn Law School’s Anthony Sebok wrote a detailed, two–part series last year delving into many of the legal questions surrounding a Plame civil suit, including Rove’s possible attempt at immunity and whether the Federal Tort Claims Act applies. For the die-hard Plameologists, the pieces are definitely worth reading.