[Psycho_Bunny]

I’m....so....proud....of.....my.....Congressdolt.

[Tallguy]

5-4 decision?! Should have been 9-0 (except that this is the DC circuit where the law is what liberals say it is).

[scooter2]

Personally, I hope they throw his a$$ in jail.

[MovementConservative]

What penalties does this clown face? Hopefully he will spend hard time with the pimps, rapists, and murderers.

[WesternPacific]

Does he enjoy immunity from prosecution?

[caisson71]

Gingrich had to pay $300,000. How much will McDermott have to pay, how much time in jail will he be serving and when will he resign? These are rhetorical questions of course. Dimocraps can break the law, steal national secrets, reveal confidential information, meet with the enemy, etc, and wait 11 years for our laughable “legal system” to slap them on the wrist while they ruin the careers of good men. Isn’t this a great democracy?

[Izzy Dunne]

We do not believe the First Amendment permits this interdiction of public information,

What "public information" is that, pray tell?

It was a private phone call.

[Liberty Valance]

With Democrats in power in the Congress, there is zero chance of this coming up on the ethics committee for censure or removal. McDermott is probably laughing his ass off. He’ll never serve a day in jail and any fines or legal fees will be paid by some Soros front org. There is NO justice for democrat felons. JMHO

[HaveHadEnough]

McDermott's offense was especially egregious since he was a senior member of the House ethics committee, the panel ruled.

Especially egregious? In a 5-4 ruling? If barely half of the members of the court can agree that it was an offense, I don't think it was egregious.

Personally, I don't mind that our congress people have to always worry that what they say to each other might someday be revealed to the public.

[Rodney King]

For what its worth, I don’t believe that it should be illegal to intercept cell phone calls. Is someone is sending radio waves through your house and body, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be allowed to receive them.

[tje]

And it only took 10 years... He should be getting out of jail about now. If only justice was swift...

[MozarkDawg]

In a sharp dissent, Judge David B. Sentelle said that under the majority's ruling, "no one in the United States could communicate on this topic of public interest because of the defect in the chain of title," that is, the fact that the tape was illegally obtained.

This wasn't a *topic of public interest* -- who is this political hack trying to kid. If it was so all-fired important to the state of the nation that we citizens hear a private phone conversation between Mr. Newt and the boys, then McDimwit ought to have had the oh-so-handy Martins disseminate the tape to the press, not to their MOC, who also was a dimwit and carried contraband across state lines in order to get it to McDimwit. The Martins supposedly happened in on the call, just happened again to have a tape recorder, these public servants should have had the brains to keep their fingerprints off the situation and told the yokels to bring the recording to the Washington Post, allowed whatever political reporter who was going to do the story to protect them with their holier-than-thou "we'll go to jail before we reveal our source" out.

[NavyCanDo]

Don’t count on it being front page of the Seattle Times or P.I..
You can bet, If he was a Republican he would be forced to give up his seat while he does some jail time

[Bob Leibowitz]

I particularly appreciated what the original trial judge had to say about McDermott's actions.

You won't find it in the AP story, nor in the Washington Post story.

But here is the story that beat both of them by two and one-half hours, and it reports what the judge said about "Baghdad Jim" McDermott's actions in this case.

McDermott (D-WA), Guilty (Again)!

[lowbridge]

In a 5-4 opinion, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that McDermott, a Washington Democrat, should not have given reporters access to the taped telephone call.

First the Second Amendment, now this. :-)