In 1998, Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) — a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee — obtained and distributed to the media an illegally-obtained tape of a private conversation of Representative John Boehner (R-OH). After litigating the dispute for ten years, and losing each step of the way, McDermott is now being forced by a federal judge to pay Boehner some $1.6 million in damages and legal fees:
McDermott’s reaction is priceless:
I guess it’s true that the First Amendment has been defended — after all, the court said that private citizens cannot have their phones illegally tapped by other private citizens. It’s wonderful that McDermott was willing to spend so much of his time and money to make that point. Still, it’s amazing that House Democrats have stood with McDermott in his attempts to prod the courts to authorize warrantless wiretaps by private citizens against other law-abiding private citizens, while they continue to refuse to authorize government wiretaps of terrorist communications. Wiretapping for me, but not for thee (i.e. — you, the American people). And unfortunately for McDermott, he won’t be able to rely on his old buddy Saddam to help with the bill on this one.
