Libby's lawyers to the Plame Lawsuit: “Don’t even go there”

We heard from Cheney's lawyers and now we hear from Libby...

From Legal Times:

“Don’t even go there” was a theme in the latest installment of the Lewis “Scooter” Libby litigation this morning. In a motion to dismiss the civil suit filed by Valerie Plame and Joseph Wilson, defense lawyers for Libby and his codefendants, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and Richard Armitage, argued repeatedly that Plame’s CIA work would be a major hindrance at trial.

They said that Plame’s former covert position stood in the way of her equal protection claims against the defendants, meaning that in order to proceed with the case the court might have to dig into the covert actions of the CIA.

“The courts just don’t go there,” said John Kester of Williams & Connolly and counsel to Cheney.

Judge John Bates presided over the motion in Federal District Court and only shook his finger once at the defense team, even though they exceeded their one hour time limit by at least 45 minutes, causing many in the courtroom to shift uncomfortably on the rock-hard benches.

The defense lawyers continued to use the qualified immunity argument, which only got a few pointed questions from Bates. But a couple of the defense lawyers argued that Cheney as vice president should get absolute immunity, a status that only the president of this fair country now holds. Kester, who was “talking from the point of view of the vice president of the United States,” made the assertion that the vice presidency was a “unique constitutional office.” Bates gave a heated definition of the word “unique,” saying that the Supreme Court argues using that word for the president - not the vice president - in considering absolute immunity. Cue finger wagging here.

The lawyer for the plaintiffs, Erwin Chemerinsky, whose voice took on the even lilt of a guidance counselor, defended the suit by saying that qualified immunity doesn’t apply when the government officials involved act outside the bounds of their offices and intentionally set out to do harm.


Other lawyers for Libby and Co. included Robert Luskin of Patton Boggs who represented Karl Rove, and Michael Waldman of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson for Richard Armitage. Valerie Plame sat at the plaintiff’s table with her counsel from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, but her husband did not attend the proceedings.