Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

High Court Takes Case on Vincent Foster
Yahoo Politics ^ | 5-5-03 | GINA HOLLAND

Posted on 05/05/2003 7:58:14 AM PDT by 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.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-100 next last
To: Pete
The color of the gun.

You can forget about that controversy. Mrs. Foster wasn't clear on which gun the FBI agents were asking her about. The gun at the park was blued. She thought they were asking her about a nickled one.

21 posted on 05/05/2003 8:22:37 AM PDT by Shooter 2.5 (Don't punch holes in the lifeboat)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Lance Romance

22 posted on 05/05/2003 8:25:06 AM PDT by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SheLion
From memory, so I hope this is right, Susan Thomases, Maggie Williams, and Bernie Nussbaum raided Foster's office on the day he died. They took lots of documents. So began the trouble for Linda Tripp. She testified that she saw people taking documents. They called her a liar. Foster's computer was taken and later found with new hard drive being used by another bureaucrat. Had the body not been dumped in the park, the FBI would have shut down his office as a crime scene, thus preventing the raid. Foster was their private attorney for Whitewater. Oh, if only they had those files that were taken.
23 posted on 05/05/2003 8:27:40 AM PDT by doug from upland (my dogs ran from the room when they heard Hillary shrieking on the radio)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: the gillman@blacklagoon.com
I admit this is one of my greatest fears...so many things seem unsolved or not investigated. Maybe it is just unreported.

Is it all the imagined dreamings of the anti-clintonistas?

I think not!
24 posted on 05/05/2003 8:30:41 AM PDT by 3D-JOY
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SheLion; Alamo-Girl
Go here:  http://alamo-girl.com/0462.htm

And do a text search for "Foster".

That will keep you occupied for the rest of the day!

25 posted on 05/05/2003 8:31:04 AM PDT by Incorrigible
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SheLion
I think she swings both ways.
26 posted on 05/05/2003 8:31:36 AM PDT by dixiechick2000 (Never have so many been so wrong about so much.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Constitutionalist Conservative
I know nothing of Zell miller. It's Jim Noble's scenario.

Other than the Miller part, it seems too plausible in an evil leftist witch sort of way.

Avoids the glare of unfriendly tv camera's and lessens the chance of any of her dark secrets being dropped on the public.

It's speculation, of course, but fun.
27 posted on 05/05/2003 8:31:53 AM PDT by the gillman@blacklagoon.com
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: doug from upland; SheLion
You're correct. Hillary herself never took documents from his office. Nussbaum, Williams and Thomasson entered around 10pm, and didn't leave until midnight with folders of documents.
28 posted on 05/05/2003 8:36:17 AM PDT by LurkerNoMore!
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: 3D-JOY
Some here are so adamant that nothing can stop their W.

However, we've seen the Clintonites get away with just about everything.

I'm thinking of buying a big boat so I can escape if the worst case becomes true.
If not, I desperately need a hobby anyway.
29 posted on 05/05/2003 8:42:41 AM PDT by the gillman@blacklagoon.com
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: SheLion; Alamo-Girl
I recently heard that Hillery Clinton had an affair with Foster!

Recently? Where have you been?

Paging Alamo Girl!

30 posted on 05/05/2003 8:52:03 AM PDT by b4its2late (I don't mind the rat race, but I could do with a little more cheese.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SheLion
old news, hilaries assitant went through and pulled two boxes of stuff out. The dc police let her leave the potetial crime scene with the boxes etc etc.
31 posted on 05/05/2003 8:55:13 AM PDT by longtermmemmory
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: b4its2late
And what was the result of investigations into the two different numbers on frame and cylinder of Forsters gun....?

And who made enquiries about those numbers to the FBI gun database some months before Forsters demise....

and the quarter mill that "turned up"in widow Forsters bank accont....

enquiring minds still remember....,.

32 posted on 05/05/2003 8:55:47 AM PDT by spokeshave ( against dead wood (albore) Frogs & Rats)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: SheLion
PS - Abnormally high quantities of people that have known x42 and wife, have assumed room temperature mysteriously.
33 posted on 05/05/2003 8:58:39 AM PDT by b4its2late (I don't mind the rat race, but I could do with a little more cheese.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: spokeshave
You're right.
34 posted on 05/05/2003 8:59:10 AM PDT by b4its2late (I don't mind the rat race, but I could do with a little more cheese.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: SheLion
Where have you been for the last hundred years?

Free Republic achieved greatness hashing over Vince's murder. Perhaps noe we can pickup where we left off, and delving deeper into the evidence can find out what really took place.

35 posted on 05/05/2003 8:59:47 AM PDT by bert (Don't Panic !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: the gillman@blacklagoon.com
Once again I state I am tired of hearing about the various Clinton bastards.

I think it is the duty of Free Republic to actively collect the DNA of all the various players, have it tested and determine the truth for the historical record. After all are dead history will forever wonder. We are to blame for not putting the issue to rest.

36 posted on 05/05/2003 9:06:05 AM PDT by bert (Don't Panic !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

Bump
37 posted on 05/05/2003 9:16:36 AM PDT by girlscout
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lance Romance
read later
38 posted on 05/05/2003 9:27:54 AM PDT by LiteKeeper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: the gillman@blacklagoon.com
I could use a new hobby too.

Spending my days being a "Hillary Hater" for 8 years would not be my choice. Foreign living does not appeal to me either. A boat, maybe.

Actually after hearing her screeching last week I might "Take to the hills"! No radio and no tv!

Is that cabin available that was saved from the bulldozer last week? LOL
39 posted on 05/05/2003 9:42:14 AM PDT by 3D-JOY
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: AJFavish; aristeides; thinden; leadpenny; basil
The attorney, Allan Favish, already has been given more than 100 pictures, including photos of Foster's car and the Virginia park site.

Best of luck Allan.

40 posted on 05/05/2003 9:45:00 AM PDT by Fred Mertz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-100 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson