Free Republic

A federal judge has sided with Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) in his six-year lawsuit against Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) over an illegally recorded telephone call. Boehner sued McDermott after a Florida couple, using a scanner, found and recorded a 1996 conference call in which Boehner, then-Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and other House leaders discussed strategy involving announcement of an ethics committee finding against Gingrich. The couple gave the tape to McDermott, who was on the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct at the time, and the contents ended up in news reports. U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan ruled...