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“Secret agent man, secret agent man / They’re giving you a number and taking away your name…”
Valerie Plame and her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, have filed a federal civil lawsuit over the leaking of Plame’s identity as a CIA agent. Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove and Scooter Libby are all named defendants, and the suit includes spots for up to ten unnamed administration officials (such “John Doe” defendants are quite common in most civil lawsuits). Of course, Libby’s plate is already full, as he’s facing a criminal trial early next year for charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
In a nutshell, the lawsuit alleges that Cheney et al. were involved in a conspiracy to ruin Plame’s career by leaking her identity as a CIA agent, in order to enact revenge against Wilson for his criticization of the administration and the Iraq war. Specifically, the complaint alleges eight causes of action (you can read the complaint here): (i) violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech; (ii) violations of the Fifth Amendment rights to equal protection, privacy and property/due process; (iii) conspiracy to deprive civil rights; (iv) failure to prevent civil rights violations; (v) invasion of privacy and public disclosure of private facts; and (vi) civil conspiracy. The complaint seeks the usual things civil lawsuits seek - compensatory money damages of a “fair, just and reasonable” amount, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.
