I'm not a lawyer, and I'm having a lot of problems trying to understand Fitzgerald's actions. If the primary impetus of the whole investigation was to find out who leaked Valerie Plame's name, and Fitzgerald knew who the leaker was (Armitage) at the outset, then why did he proceed with the investigation? Why did the judge allow the proceedings to go on if he too knew what Fitzgerald knew? I absolutely can't understand this at all, and hopefully some attorney on this forum can tell me what legal authority Fitzfong had to continue the whole bloody sham when he knew the identity of the person he was purporting to find out at the outset.
IIRC, Judge Walton was put up for the SCOTUS by Billy Jeff Blythe and shot down by the Republicans. IIRC.