1 Boring Old Man

Things are never simple, it seems. Reader dc [who knows all things] points out that the Judge that threw out Valerie Wilson’s suit wasn’t just any old Judge. John D. Bates served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1980 to 1997, and was Chief of the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office from 1987 to 1997. Judge Bates was on detail as Deputy Independent Counsel for the Whitewater investigation assisting Ken Starr from 1995 to mid-1997. He’s the Judge that threw out the GAO’s suit to force Cheney to reveal who was involved in his Energy Task Force. He is also a F.I.S.A. judge. In a 2002 decision, he ruled that Dennis Kucinich and other Members of the House of Representatives had no standing to challenge President Bush’s withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty without congressional approval – a “political question” not suitable for resolution by the courts. Now, he’s essentially done the same thing with Valerie Plame’s suit. Sound like the Federalist Society‘s standard line to me? Yes, Judge Bates in a member of the Federalist Society…