CNN.com - Should Plame sue Rove? - Jul 29, 2005

By Anthony J. Sebok
FindLaw columnist
Special to CNN.com



(FindLaw) -- In my previous column, I raised the possibility that Valerie Plame might want to sue Karl Rove in a private lawsuit, if he indeed revealed her identity as a CIA agent. Since I wrote that column, there have been very few important factual revelations about the Plame affair. However, as recent news reports have made clear, it is not obvious that Karl Rove or anyone in the White House involved in the Plame affair broke any criminal laws.

However, even if no one in the White House committed a crime (or can be proven to have committed a crime), it is possible that someone there wrongfully injured Plame, and that Plame can sue for damages in a civil lawsuit.

If all the White House did was confirm what journalists knew, then Plame's complaint is with those journalists and whoever outside the White House got them their information. But if the White House had a hand in providing Plame's identity to the media, then she might still want to consider suing the individual or individuals in the government who harmed her.

Why discovery could happen
In my last column, I noted that it would be difficult for Plame to sue Karl Rove, or any White House aide, in his individual capacity, unless she could show that her constitutional rights were knowingly violated or that she was harmed by a knowing violation of a federal law.

However, if Plame were willing to sue the federal government under the Federal Tort Claim Act (FTCA), she would have an easier time framing a lawsuit that would survive a motion to dismiss.

Under the FTCA, the federal government allows itself to be sued for certain torts which were committed by its employees in the scope of their employment.

Given the amorphous nature of a White House aide's "job," it would not be hard to imagine that speaking to the press clearly falls within the scope of the employment of Rove or anyone at the White House who may have spoken to the media with the goal of raising Plame's identity as a CIA agent.

Possible pitfall
If Plame sued Rove or any other White House aide for redress under the tort laws of the District of Columbia, she would have to confront the "discretionary function exception."

The FTCA authorizes a broad waiver of the government's sovereign immunity for claims in tort. But the statute exempts "any claim . . . based upon the exercise or performance or the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function or duty on the part of a federal agency or employee of the Government, whether or not the discretion involved be abused."

The federal courts have held that decisions that implicate policy judgments are discretionary and exempt from the FTCA. In contrast, decisions which put a policy into action are rote and fall within the FTCA.

In its 1987 decision in Bowman v. United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that the decision of whether to install a guardrail on a stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway is a discretionary act because the National Park Service has to weigh various factors (cost, safety, etc). On the other hand, had the Park Service erected a guardrail and its foreman, in constructing the guardrail, decided to use cheap materials that failed to work properly and this caused an injury, the person injured by the foreman's negligent decision could sue the government.

If Plame has a complaint against Rove or anyone else in the White House who tried to get her name into the media, it is not because of the fact that they spoke to the media in order to promote the White House's political agenda. That's fortunate for her FTCA claim: Media relations in general -- how much to communicate with the press, and with whom -- seem very much a matter of policy judgment and would fall within the discretionary function exception.

Instead, Plame's complaint would be that, in specific conversations, to further the goal of promoting their agenda, Rove or others may have revealed her identity. She objects, that is, to the specific tactic - not the general strategy.

The specific content of any single conversation seems more like implementing, than creating, a policy of media relations; thus, it is less likely to fall within the discretionary function exception. Just as the National Park Service has to have someone put up guardrails once it has decided to have them, so must the White House have someone make phone calls once they have decided to talk to the press. If someone is injured as a result of the phone call, it would seem that the FTCA should allow the injured party to sue the government for compensation.

One might argue that the phone call that "outed" Plame was no rote or mechanical phone call, since, as Plame would allege, it was done with the intent to harm a CIA agent, and must have been an act reflecting a policy decision. But the president has suggested there was no get-Plame policy; indeed, he's promised to fire anyone convicted with a crime in connection with the revelation of her identity, and has supported the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate the revelation.

In any event, this seems like a weak argument to me. It would be strange for the Bush administration to try to get Plame's FTCA suit dismissed by arguing that it was doing something out the ordinary when Rove or others spoke to the press about her.

The alternative argument -- that every contact with the press reflects a policy decision -- sounds equally implausible. Some conversations employ tactics in service of a greater strategy; they are below the level of policy, and at the level of implementation.

Careful tort selection
Assuming that the government could not invoke the discretionary function exception, Plame would still have to choose her tort claims carefully. The FTCA does not permit most intentional torts, including torts relating to the intentional interference of contractual relations. So Plame could not sue on the basis that Rove's actions may have interfered with her ability to get future employment with her old employer, the CIA, or with other private firms.

On the other hand, the FTCA does permit suits for two torts that are quite relevant to Plame's complaint if Rove or someone else in the White House tried to out her. She could sue under the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress ("IIED") or the tort of privacy.

Plame's IIED claim would be quite straightforward. She would need to allege that whoever revealed her identity to the press knew, or was substantially certain, that the revelation would cause her extreme emotional distress. Furthermore, she would need to show that the act of outing her is something which the reasonable person would find outrageous--she need not show it constituted a crime.

In pleading a privacy tort, Plame would allege that she was injured by the "public disclosure of a private fact." To prove, this Plame would have to show that Rove (or whoever outed her) publicly disclosed a private fact about her that is not of legitimate public concern and the disclosure of which is "highly offensive to a reasonable person."

Possible objections

Plame's suit might run afoul of some First Amendment issues, however. The issue here is whether the information disclosed is of public concern.

In its 1989 decision in The Florida Star v. B.J.F., the Supreme Court held that a newspaper which revealed the name of a rape victim -- in violation of a state law -- could not be sued for a privacy tort by that victim because of the First Amendment.

But there are a number of reasons to think that cases like Florida Star are distinguishable from the sort of suit Plame might bring.

To begin with, courts have discussed limiting the privacy tort only in the context of the First Amendment's protection of the press. Plame would not want to sue the reporter who published her identity, but the person who called the reporter.

Furthermore, in Florida Star, the court contemplated the case of classified information, and hinted that it did not think that even the media should be allowed to invade a citizen's privacy by printing intelligence classified by the government with impunity. The court would be likely to take an even dimmer view, crime or no, of a government employee's doing the same.

A skeptic might object that the lawsuits I have described are the kind of "junk" lawsuits that give tort lawyers a bad name. The skeptic might object that, unless Plame knows a lot more than has been revealed in the press, it would be pure speculation for her to sue Rove or anyone in the White House now.

Furthermore, the skeptic might argue, the suits seem pretextual, at best. Had the Bush administration really outed her, Plame might be angry at their lack of respect of the CIA or for the nation, but can she really claim that she has been injured? Has she truly suffered a loss of privacy or extreme emotional distress? Doubtless, she wishes her identity as a CIA agent had been kept secret, and doubtless, its revelation distressed her. But this case -- the skeptic might contend -- is really about national security, not personal injury. So wouldn't her claim for redress in tort just be a fig leaf?

I am more concerned about the first objection - the idea that a suit now would be premature -- than the second. If Valerie Plame believes that she suffered a loss of privacy when her identity as a CIA was revealed, we should take her seriously. The fact that after her identity was revealed she chose to appear in public with her husband does not change the fact that in our tort system, privacy, like reputation, belongs to the individual -- and it cannot be taken away by force. Also, who is to say that she did not suffer extreme emotional distress in learning that her career might be ruined and her contacts compromised?

But even if Plame could sue now, should she wait? This first objection concerns me a great deal. Paula Jones' lawsuit against Bill Clinton was finally dismissed, but not before it caused great mischief.

Plame should bring a suit against whomever she believes has wronged her, but she should not do so just to begin a fishing expedition or to harass the Bush White House.

On the other hand, however, Plame should not be forced to wait until she has all the facts, since without deposing certain key players under oath, she may never have all the facts. Nor should she be forced to wait until the Special Counsel makes his findings publicly available.

The Plame affair is about national security, among other things. But at its heart, it is about an individual whose interests in tort may have been violated. She should have the power to seek redress for herself if she wishes, without having to ask the permission of anyone.

Anthony J. Sebok, a FindLaw columnist, is a professor at Brooklyn Law School.

Leak investigation tests Bush, Rove relationship

By Ron Hutcheson / Knight Ridder

WASHINGTON - They've been an unlikely pair since the day they met - the nerdish bookworm and the cocky backslapper - but Karl Rove and George W. Bush have been partners and political allies for more than 30 years.

Now their friendship is being tested by Rove's involvement in the unauthorized outing of an undercover CIA officer. Depending on the outcome of a grand jury investigation, the president soon could face a painful choice between protecting his trusted aide or forcing his resignation to limit political damage.

"It's going to be an interesting test of his loyalty if this goes any further. It's like something out of Shakespeare," said Bill Minutaglio, a Bush biographer and a veteran Texas journalist. "At the end of the day, he's got to know that Rove in many ways delivered him to the White House."

Rove hasn't been accused of any crime, and prosecutors haven't named him as a target. Even so, it's clear that he wasn't completely forthcoming when he said he had nothing to do with news reports in July 2003 that identified CIA officer Valerie Plame.

Plame's cover was blown about a week after her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, accused the Bush administration of exaggerating the case for war with Iraq. Wilson contends that Bush loyalists outed his wife in retaliation for his criticism.

Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper has told a federal grand jury that Rove told him Wilson's wife worked for the CIA without mentioning her name. Deliberately exposing a covert officer can be a federal crime, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.

Bush, who once said he'd fire anyone involved in the leak, is standing by Rove. The president and his aides have consistently rebuffed questions about the case, citing the ongoing investigation. Rove declined interview requests.

Insiders say descriptions of Rove as "Bush's brain" or the wizard behind the curtain overstate his role, but there's no doubt that he wields enormous influence on the president's politics and his policies.

"Bush is in pretty deep with Karl," said Doug Wead, a longtime associate of the Bush family. "There's something beyond like-and-dislike there. This is a symbiotic relationship."

They met just before Thanksgiving in 1973, when Rove worked for Bush's father at the Republican National Committee. The elder Bush asked Rove to deliver car keys to his son, who was arriving in Washington by train during a break from Harvard Business School.

Bush was 27, just five years older than Rove, but the young political operative saw something special in the brash bachelor who showed up in jeans, cowboy boots and a leather bomber jacket. Rove once joked that he began thinking about Bush's presidential candidacy on "December 25th 1950" - Rove's birth date.

He was exaggerating, of course, but they started their climb to the White House within five years of meeting. Their first campaign, Bush's run for a West Texas congressional seat in 1978, ended in defeat after Bush's Democratic opponent cast him as an Ivy League outsider.

In the Republican primary, Bush had to fend off a more conservative candidate who accused him of relying on "Rockefeller-type Republicans such as Karl Rove" for advice. A local newspaper quoted Bush claiming that Rove "has had nothing to do with my campaign," a denial at odds with Rove's acknowledgment years later that he was an unpaid adviser.

By the late 1980s, Rove was quietly promoting Bush as a possible candidate for Texas governor. By 1993, he was mapping out the campaign that won Bush the keys to the governor's mansion a year later, his first stop on the way to the White House.

"Karl saw the potential in Bush," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who's also relied on Rove's advice throughout his political career. "He's the kind of person that always thinks two or three or four or even a dozen chess moves down the road."

Along the way, Rove piled up enemies and allegations of dirty tricks. As a young Republican activist in Chicago in 1970, he distributed phony invitations promising "free beer, free food, girls and a good time" if the recipients went to a local Democratic campaign headquarters.

A few years later, the Republican National Committee launched an internal investigation into other allegations of dirty tricks by the College Republicans, a group Rove headed. Rove was cleared of wrongdoing, and the elder Bush gave him a job at the party's national headquarters.

Later, as a consultant in the hardball world of Texas politics, Rove played a particularly rough version of the game. It's no surprise that Democrats detest him, but so do some Republicans.

"People are scared of Karl," said Tom Pauken, who ran afoul of Bush and Rove when he headed the Texas Republican Party. "If you oppose Karl on anything, you're on the enemies list. You become the enemy even if you're not really one."

Pauken said he wasn't at all surprised to see Rove linked to the CIA case.

"Karl's been doing this for years. He uses reporters to plant negative information, to attack the credibility of real or perceived foes," he said. "It's just the usual Karl Rove scorched-earth policy."

In 1992, Rove was fired from the elder Bush's presidential re-election campaign because of suspicions that he leaked a story disparaging a fellow Republican to columnist Robert Novak, another journalist at the center of the CIA case. It was Novak who first exposed Wilson's wife, although it isn't clear where he got the information about her CIA connection.

Rove and Novak denied at the time that Rove had any role in the 1992 leak. Novak has declined to discuss the current case.

Admirers said Rove's approach to politics reflected his devotion to Bush.

"Karl loves the president," Cornyn said. "It offends him greatly to see someone who doesn't share that same zeal."

Although Bush calls Rove a friend, they don't relate to each other as equals. The president's nickname for Rove, "Turd Blossom," underscores the aide's subservient role.

"Karl is as deferential to the president as anybody," said Mark McKinnon, Bush's media consultant.

Wead, who fell out of favor with the White House earlier this year by releasing tapes of his telephone conversations with Bush, said he doubted that the president would ever have to ask for Rove's resignation.

"Bush would just nod or wink or not return a phone call within the normal time, and that would be the signal," Wead said. "And Rove would know it."