Valerie Plum, the ex-CIA officer who was outed by members of the Bush administration, is now sueing the Vice President, and a number of senior White House officials. I'm not sure what she is claiming as a remedy (this doesn't seem to be mentioned in any of the articles about it), but I presume it's primarily for loss of earnings, given that outing her effectively cost her a job.

However, this case raises interesting constitutional issues. It is pretty clear that the President has legal immunity from being sued for any actions taken as President while in office. But it is not clear if this extends to the Vice President, or to other White House aides. The Supreme Court has ruled that federal officers can be sued for actions that breach someone's constitutional rights, however, the breach must be clear and intentional.

I suspect that if the case gets far enough, it will be established that the Vice President has similar immunity to the President. White House aides probably do not. But, the case might go anywhere - did the defendants breach Plume's constitutional rights in outing her?

I can't really see how. There are other issues of federal law involved, but Lewis Libby is being charged separately for that. So, I suspect that this lawsuit will not get anywhere.

Posted by Dave Bryant at 3:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)