High Court Takes Case on Vincent Foster

Yahoo Politics ^ | 5-5-03 | GINA HOLLAND

[Lance Romance]

High Court Takes Case on Vincent Foster

20 minutes ago

By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said Monday it would spell out when the public has a right to information in law enforcement files, like recordings of emergency calls and pictures from crime scenes.

The justices will consider next fall whether the government must release post-mortem pictures of former White House attorney Vincent Foster, resurrecting a 10-year-old controversy over Foster's suicide.

The high court will balance people's privacy interests, in this case involving Foster's family, against the rights of others under a public records law. The Bush administration had urged the court to review the case. At stake is "the privacy interest of millions of individuals, about whom personal and sensitive information is stored in government files," Solicitor General Theodore Olson told the court.

Foster's death, in the first year of Bill Clinton's presidency, spurred a legion of conspiracy theories that he was murdered in a White House cover-up. Foster was a kindergarten friend of Clinton and former law partner of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton

Special prosecutor Kenneth Starr headed one of the many investigations that determined Foster killed himself on July 20, 1993, at a Civil War-era park near Washington.

The justices will decide if a California attorney has a right to pictures of Foster's body. The attorney, Allan Favish, already has been given more than 100 pictures, including photos of Foster's car and the Virginia park site. He has posted some on a Web site.

Lower courts have split over the release of more explicit pictures.

An appeals court in California said that four of the pictures could be made public. A court in Washington said they could not because there was not compelling evidence of government misconduct.

One of the pictures, which shows Foster's hand holding a gun, has already been published in Time magazine. None of the photos show his face or the bullet wounds. He died of a single shot to the head from an antique revolver.

The Supreme Court had scheduled arguments in another government records case involving a weapons database this spring. Justices dismissed the case, however, when Congress passed a provision restricting the release of the information which included names of gun shops and gun owners whose weapons were used in crimes.

Olson, the Bush administration's Supreme Court lawyer, said justices should use this case to clarify when lower courts should allow the release of information under the Freedom of Information Act. The law allows reporters and others to get unclassified government records that officials would not otherwise release.

Olson said that five investigations concluded that Foster, who was depressed, killed himself. He said a sixth probe "by an unsatisfied private citizen" seemed unnecessary.

The public information law allows officials to withhold information that could cause "an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

The attorney for the Foster family, James Hamilton, said the release of more photos would be damaging to the relatives, "invading their memory of a loved one, by subjecting them to harassment from any number of media outlets, and by leaving them vulnerable to the unwitting viewing of profoundly traumatic images."

He said that the rationale used to order the release of the photos could also be used to get information about the terrorist attacks, including voice mail messages left by people trapped in the World Trade Center.

The case is Office of Independent Counsel v. Favish, 02-954.

[Lance Romance]

Dead Man Talking.

[SheLion]

I recently heard that Hillery Clinton had an affair with Foster! And that she was the first in his office and removed files. Has anyone else heard this?????

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

You know, it's not really the economy that may unseat W's re-election chances, but the fact that he didn't vigorously investigate and prosecute the Clintonista crime family.

Letting Mary Jo White-Wash stay on and failing to root out massive vote fraud means the mechanism for Hillary's upcoming election theft attempt is still in place.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Go for a trip through the archives. Look up Alamo Girls legacy.

[Cold Heat]

Yes, all of that is reported to be true.

[JohnGalt]

Ted Olson sat on the board of directors at the American Spectator where opinion was split on the 'Foster' question. Tyrell sided with Ambrose Evans Pritchard, where as John Corry sided against Scaife publishing.


Thought it would be worth making the side note for the ever small world of the DC Ruling Class.

[SheLion]

Funny I just heard about this. So, it's really supposed to be true? I always thought she was gay. Go figure.

[Pete]

I recently heard that Hillery Clinton had an affair with Foster! And that she was the first in his office and removed files. Has anyone else heard this?????

The Foster case has been a topic on FR over the years. Sometimes it is a hot topic and some times it is tepid. Back in the mid-90's there were several investigations conducted into the circumstances surrounding Foster's death. Leave it to say, it is one freaky case.

To answer your question, Yes. The rumored affair and the fact that Hillary was the first into the office have been discussed at great length on FR. There are many, many more interesting questions as well. The neck wound. The oven mit. Foster's safe. The "apartment". The broken x-ray machine. The color of the gun. The parked car. The phone call to Arkansas ala "Vince shot himself in the parking lot!!!". It goes on and on. Favish has a good a site as any to get all the details.

[Cold Heat]

Many conservative die hards are upset about the lack of progress on the Clinton scandal.

Bush does not wish to drag the countries dirty laundry through the streets.

If Clinton or spouse make waves, you can bet that a dirty sock or other garment will fall out of the basket for all to see. It has already been going on.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Not just Foster, where do you think Chelsea Hubble came from?

[Lance Romance]

Special prosecutor Kenneth Starr headed one of the many investigations that determined Foster killed himself on July 20, 1993, at a Civil War-era park near Washington.

I thought Fisk was the special prosecuter. Did Ken Starr inherit the case.

Plus, I remember Hillary's dear friend Maggie Williams was seen carting documents out of Foster's office with Watkins.

[Cold Heat]

As to the affair, I have not seen that verified by many sources. It is sufficient to say that they were very close friends. Bill was screwing around at the time so you connect the dots.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Well I suppose the Beast has a plan to avoid that. Check out Jim Noble's theory on her election gambit on one of the "Is she running?" threads.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Stage I: HRC keeps her promise to the voters and does not run for the nomination.

Stage II: The RATs nominate a stooge. Edwards would be best (that's why the Xlintons are supporting him).

Stage III: Bush is up 56-44 on 10/1/04.

Stage IVa: The New York Times breaks a story on 10/2/04 that Edwards has been cheating on his wife. A firestorm ensues, and Edwards tearfully withdraws on 10/9/04.

OR:

Stage IVb: Candidate Edwards is attacked and seriously wounded on 10/2/04 by a white male with NRA decals on his car and when his PC is searched, freerepublic.com is set as his home page. He dies a week later.

Stage V: The DNC meets in chaos. A small majority favors advancing the candidate for Vice-President, Carol Mosely-Braun, to the top spot. Polls show her losing 61-39 to Bush-Rice.

Stage VI: The media suddenly remembers the Torricelli precedent-the RATs have a constitutional right to "a competitive candidate", never mind reliance on hypertechnical language about ballot access.

Stage VII: The DNC meets again. After a marathon, bruising session where Al Sharpton walks out, Zell Miller and Russ Finegold accept Chairman McAuliffe's assignment: go visit the junior senator from New York, and plead with her to repudiate her promise to serve New York until 2007 for the good of the party and the nation.

Stage VIII: Bill and Hillary fly to a retreat in the mountains of West Virginia (chosen after polls show soccer Moms like the mountains in the summer). She returns on Monday, October 18, 2004 and announces, with a heart full of love for her people, that she is willing to sacrifice everything-for the children.

Stage IX: Because time is short, she schedules two weeks with Katie, Oprah, and Sally Jessie rather than a traditional campaign.

Stage X: It's up to us.


32 posted on 05/05/2003 4:17 AM PDT by Jim Noble

[Cold Heat]

Yes, Starr redid the re-do and determined no murder. The case has been sanitized to the max.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

[Cold Heat]

LOL! possible.........always possible with rats running the show.

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Nice to see that Mr. Favish is still pursuing this. If it wasn't for his efforts (plus the efforts of certain others -- Hugh Sprunt, for example), we wouldn't know nearly as much as we do now regarding the holes in the govt's version of what happened to Foster.

[ASA Vet]

Not just Foster, where do you think Chelsea Hubble came from?

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Zell Miller and Russ Finegold accept Chairman McAuliffe's assignment

Do you honestly think Zell Miller would accept such an assignment?