Supreme Court Rejects Case, Ending Tape Dispute in Congress

New York Times ^ | December 4, 2007 | AP

[I still care]

The long legal fight between two members of Congress over an illegally taped telephone call ended Monday when the Supreme Court refused to review the case.

The court, without comment, left in place a federal appeals court ruling that Representative Jim McDermott, Democrat of Washington, acted improperly in giving reporters access to a recording of a 1996 telephone call of Republican leaders discussing the House ethics case against Representative Newt Gingrich, who was then House speaker.

Mr. McDermott had asked the justices to hear his appeal of that ruling, which he said infringed on his free-speech rights.

[I still care]

Looked and didn't see this posted. On Fox they were saying McDermott got owned; he's on the hook for probably a good million dollars of legal fees.

I guess it's not kosher to secretly tape people and give the tape to the press.

[Alright_on_the_LeftCoast]

good, maybe the ahole will go home in disgrace...he is an embarrassment to WA ......he and the rest of the moonbats on the west side.

[Jacquerie]

Here is a win for the good guys. Therefore, it will obviously get minimal exposure, maybe one day from the Old Media.

[bravo whiskey]

just like damn yankee is one word
democrat traitor bastard is one word.

[weegee]

Still waiting for every Dem’Rat who has denounced the wiretapping provisions of the Patriot Act to call for McDermott’s censure.

[Spok]

In Washington state, after a bunch of state legislators got busted in an FBI bribery sting, our legislature passed a two party consent law which says you have to get both parties to a conversation to consent before it can be recorded. (Most states, and federal law, require that only one partipant know it’s being recorded.) This makes McDermott’s dissemination of a conversation recorded without either participants consent all the more egregious. If he wasn’t a Congressman and a Democrat, he’d probably be doing time.

[Gator113]

“.......he’s on the hook for probably a good million dollars of legal fees. “

I would bet that his won’t cost him a dime, WE, the tax payer will foot the bill.

[Chode]

and the RATS, take another one in the...............HA ha!!!

[OCC]

Still waiting for every Dem’Rat who has denounced the wiretapping provisions of the Patriot Act to call for McDermott’s censure.

This seems like a reasonable subject to bring up at the next Rat debate. Show of hands, if a member of Congress publicly discloses illegally recorded private telephone calls, should they be censured or removed?

[ml/nj]

I guess it's not kosher to secretly tape people and give the tape to the press.

I don't think McDermott secretly taped anyone. The taping episode was a whole lot bigger than Jim McDermott. (And it was probably some sort of bug rather than a captured cell phone call.) He's sort of the Webster Hubbell of this episode.

ML/NJ

[PLMerite]

“The taping episode was a whole lot bigger than Jim McDermott.”

That’s what I said the moment I heard about it. No way it went down the way the Dhims/MSM want us to believe.