Judicial Benchmarks: Boehner v. McDermott

The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal this week to review the case between House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) brought an end to the 11-year legal battle between the two congressmen. This farce began in 1996 when McDermott, one of Congress’s most liberal members, leaked to the press contents of a tape-recorded meeting among House Republicans over then-Speaker Newt Gingrich’s alleged “ethics violations.” McDermott desperately clung to his First Amendment rights in violating the meeting’s confidentiality, but the DC Circuit Court of Appeals saw things differently. McDermott refused to admit wrongdoing and took the case to the nation’s highest court, which was apparently confident enough in the DC court’s opinion to decline a review. Now McDermott must pay Boehner $60,000 in damages and his $800,000 legal tab. McDermott still contends that he made the right decision, albeit an expensive one.

From: The Patriot Post