Plame seeks to resurrect lawsuit in CIA leak case

WASHINGTON — Former CIA operative Valerie Plame is trying to resurrect a lawsuit against those in the Bush administration she says illegally disclosed her identity.

A federal judge dismissed Plame's lawsuit last year, saying there was no basis to bring a case. Plame's lawyers asked a federal appeals court Friday to send the case back before the judge and force him to consider its merits.

(enlarge photo) Former CIA officer Valerie Plame speaks at an annual 'power lunch' hosted by Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Friday, May 9, 2008, in Chicago. Plame's leaked covert identity sparked a federal probe, and resulted in the conviction of Vice President Dick Cheney chief of staff, Scooter Libby, of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, sued Vice President Dick Cheney; his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby; former White House political adviser Karl Rove and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

Plame's CIA position was revealed in a syndicated newspaper column in 2003, during a time when her husband was criticizing the march to war in Iraq. Armitage and Rove were the original sources for that story, which Plame believes was retribution for Wilson's criticism.

The article touched of a lengthy criminal investigation. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald never charged anyone with the leak but convicted Libby of obstruction and lying to investigators.

During the trial, it was revealed that Libby and former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer also discussed Plame with reporters.

Plame says those leaks violated her constitutional rights. But U.S. District Judge John D. Bates dismissed the case, saying the law requires Plame's complaints be raised under the Privacy Act. Plame's attorneys say that law is insufficient. They asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to send the case back to Bates for reconsideration.

With the exception of Cheney, those named in Plame's lawsuit have left the administration.

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