Immunity For Cheney, Others Sought In Plame Case

Immunity for Cheney, others sought in Plame case

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...s/4814896.html

By CAROL D. LEONNIG
Washington Post
5/17/2007

WASHINGTON — Attorneys for Vice President Cheney and top White House officials told a federal judge Thursday they cannot be held liable for anything they disclosed to reporters about covert CIA officer Valerie Plame or her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson.

The officials, who include senior White House adviser Karl Rove and Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, argued that the judge should dismiss a lawsuit filed by Wilson that stemmed from the disclosure of Plame's identity.

The suit claims that Cheney, Libby, Rove and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage violated the couple's constitutional rights by revealing Plame's identity after Wilson accused the administration of twisting intelligence to exaggerate Iraq's nuclear threat and justify an attack on Baghdad. Libby was convicted in March of lying to a grand jury.

Erwin Chemerinsky, a Duke University law professor who represents Plame and Wilson, told U.S. District Judge John Bates that President Bush said revealing Plame's identity could be illegal conduct and a firing offense.