Cheney, Rove, Libby sued in CIA leak case | Chicago Tribune

"Bivens suits are hard to bring because officials are granted immunity when acting in the course of their official duties."

Since when did it become anyone's official duty to smear an American citizen for telling the truth about administration lies.

If attempting to smear Joe Wilson is part of executive official duties, then, instead of expanding the executive, maybe we should just abolish it all together.

Cheney, Rove, Libby sued in CIA leak case Chicago Tribune:

Such suits, known as Bivens actions, are difficult to win. The law affords federal officials immunity from suits where they are acting within the scope of their duties.

The law also requires that the officials know that their conduct affects the exercise of particular constitutional rights. Some legal scholars said it would be hard for Wilson to show that his right to speak out was affected by the decision of Rove and Libby to reveal the CIA affiliation of his wife.

'If you are going to be out there criticizing the government, then the government, just like anybody else, will often try to explain why you are in the wrong. That is part of the public debate,' said Eugene Volokh, a law professor at UCLA.

Other experts said the ultimate success of the lawsuit, measured in dollars, may be beside the point. They said the suit is likely to give Plame, Wilson and their legal team an opportunity to question the officials under oath and obtain their notes, documents and even statements and grand jury testimony given as part of the Fitzgerald probe.

That could help answer the major unanswered question: the identity of a senior administration official who tipped Novak off about Plame. Novak discussed his role in the investigation this week, but has declined to reveal his main source.

'The key point is that filing the lawsuit will permit Plame/Wilson to subpoena witnesses, such as Robert Novak, to provide testimony,' said John Nockleby, a professor at Loyola Law School in California. 'As a result, we may finally learn who was the primary source for Novak's column, which outed Valerie Wilson.