FBI Informant Loses Supreme Court Battle in Anthrax Case (Punished For Trying ToStop AnthraxTerror?)

WASHINGTON (January 14, 2002 5:38 p.m. EST) - A man fired after secretly helping the FBI investigate an anthrax threat lost his bid to take his case to the Supreme Court on Monday.

The court turned down a chance to decide if First Amendment free speech rights cover a public employee's cooperation with law enforcement, even when that assistance is against the wishes of their bosses.

Since Sept. 11, justices have not agreed to review a case that directly implicates terrorism. They declined to take this one without comment.

At the heart of the case is the 1998 investigation of man who wrote a book on how to make anthrax and other weapons. He also was questioned in the recent anthrax mailings but not charged.

The FBI was told about Timothy Tobiason by an unlikely source, an investigator for poor criminal defendants.

Daniel Rupp was praised by his employer, the federal public defender in Wichita, Kan., for notifying the FBI after Tobiason allegedly talked to him at a gun show about anthrax and his angers with government.

But Rupp was told to let federal agents handle the matter from there because of a potential conflict. He worked for an agency that provided legal defense for people investigated by the FBI.

Months later, he lost his job after the public defender's office learned that Rupp had met another half dozen times with the FBI and had corresponded with Tobiason about his anthrax plans as part of the investigation, court records show.

"This case is more than a run-of-the mill government employee speech case. It is a case presenting a public issue of enormous importance to the nation," Rupp's attorneys wrote in urging justices to hear his appeal.

A judge had dismissed his case, and the 10th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals also said the firing was proper. The appeals court noted that he was not fired for reporting the alleged threats. His other involvement, after telling his boss he would no longer help the FBI, was not free speech, the appeals court said.

"Once Mr. Rupp had tipped the FBI, it was certainly capable of carrying out an investigation of Mr. Tobiason with or without Mr. Rupp's help," the court said.

That's not necessarily so, argued a group of law officers backing Rupp. The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association said that someone with access to alleged terrorists cannot easily be replaced.

The association said in court filings that Sept. 11 and the later anthrax deaths "have brought home to the public the threat of terrorism and the effect that the use, or even the threat of the use, of weapons of mass destruction can have on the populace, the economy and the government."

Rupp, a weapons collector who frequented gun shows, said Tobiason told him in 1998 that he had used gelatin to grow an anthrax culture. Rupp also said the man was angered that national newspapers, including The National Enquirer, were not giving him attention.

Anthrax was discovered in October in Florida at the headquarters of the company that publishes six supermarket tabloids, including The National Enquirer. A photo editor died from breathing anthrax spores in a tainted letter.

Tobiason was questioned earlier by law officers but not accused of any wrongdoing.

Part of Rupp's case rests on the constitutional importance of government getting information, not just his right to give it.

His lawyer said the appeals court "ignored the compelling interest of (Rupp), the public and law enforcement in the free flow of information important to the protection of society."

Rupp had been hired in 1994 by the public defender. Three years later he met Tobiason at a gun show, then in 1998 Rupp said they talked at another gun show about anthrax. The following day, he contacted the FBI.

The public defender's office told the Supreme Court that the firing was about him "surreptitiously" helping the FBI. Rupp could no longer be trusted for sensitive matters involved in his job because of the deception, the office maintained.

The defender "was attempting to avert an ethical and client relations disaster before it occurred," the attorney for the agency, Alan L. Rupe, wrote.

It's not like he betrayed the confidence of a CLIENT of his, or of a friend of a client, or of anything even remotely related to a case. This is ridiculous.

Does a governmental organization have the authority to prevent someone from cooperating with the FBI in a case not related to their employment? He should be reinstated, because the original order not to cooperate with the FBI was totally wrong.

But Rupp was told to let federal agents handle the matter from there because of a potential conflict. He worked for an agency that provided legal defense for people investigated by the FBI.

Would you appreciate your lawyer working with the FBI against your interests?

This guy had a serious conflict of interest, staying in on this after the initial tip.

Links to some other important FR threads related to Anthrax, biological warfare and terror attacks:

Released Anthrax Suspect "was questioned solely about immigration status, not about anthrax"<

NAU defends shipping of live anthrax spores (Amazing)

[Update]: (Experimental)Anthrax Vaccine Has Few Takers (So-Far Only 100 Dumb Enough To Be GuneaPigs)

Servicemen exposed in tests await aid (UpdateGovt' Used Biological Agents Spraying On US Soldiers)

Thousands weigh options as (Experimental) Anthrax Vaccinations Begin

Anthrax investigators focusing on strain from military facility (Possible Suspect:Mike Failey)

Anthrax probe into US project

Anthrax Vaccine Plan Sows Confusion D.C. Advises Workers Against (Experimental) Treatment

U.S. Offers ("Unlicensed, Controversial" "Military") Anthrax Vaccine to Thousands

"Los Alamos..Illegally received a shipment of lethal, live anthrax In late October" -Quote MyTitle

Anthrax Likely Originated in U.S., White House Says

(1st FBI Finds Army ,Now CIA+PortonDown Linked To Anthrax Strain, Detrick Had To Be Original Source)

Army's Anthrax Material Surprises Some Experts (Why Did Army Not Disclose ThisBefore FBI Found Out?)

(Horrific Govt Evil)Porton Down Probe Launched (20,000 Biological& Chemical Weapons HumanGuineaPigs)

Porton Down (Evil Human Gunea Pig Experiments) Probe is Thwarted by Deaths

Army Working on Weapons-Grade Anthrax, Report Says (Spores Shipped Month Before Attracks Began)

AnthraxVaccine Mulled For Up to3,000 Exposed,Experimental Use Likely to Be Controversial (GuneaPigs)

Va. Scientist Was Killed With Sword ("A planned Assasination", Witchcraft, drinking blood involved)

FEDS ADMIT THEY BLEW CHANCE TO STOP 9/11 TERROR

Scientist Found Slain In His Loudoun Home (2 More Bio-Experts Dead, EbolaVictimMissing)

Anthrax matches Army spores (Identical To Dugway PG, Ft Detrick Anthrax)

U.S. acknowledges link between Gulf War, disease

(Breaking!)INS Detainee Anthrax Suspect (4 Men All Foriegn!! Not "Lone American" Right-Winger!

Scientists Decode Anthrax 'Fingerprint' (Update:Stories On The Should-Be Pakistani Anthrax Suspects)

Freeper Research on the Anthrax Perp

Behind In The Biowar (Antrax Expert Disappeance Mystery, Death of Another Top Expert,etc)

Taking a Germ Bullet

Group [Greenpeace Germany] Says U.S. Expert Believed Behind Anthrax Attacks

The CIA in the New World Order - Intelligence Challenges Through 2015 (Article From CIA Website)

[$100,000]Reward Offered for Suspected Anthrax Hoaxer (But Nothing For RealSuspects Or Wiley?Why??)

FBI Expands Anthrax Probe to Fed Labs; [Was Insider Behind Attacks? (MadeInUSA? Missing Expert Updat

A Scientist's Mystery ($25,000 Reward)("FBI Refused To Get Involved"In Investigation-Why?)

Conn Spores[Vials from Tomas Foral's Refrigerator Test] Positive; Army(Ft.Dietrick)Plans More Tests

Anthrax Scare Gives UN Pact a Fresh Edge (Globalism Empowered By Terrorism)

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