Judge Who Dismissed Valerie Plame's Lawsuit Has Strong Ties to the Bush Administration

The CIA operative who was outed courtesy of Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff Scooter Libby had her lawsuit against the Bush administration dismissed. Despite the fact that Valerie Plame was an innocent victim of a White House plan to wreak vengeance upon her husband Joe Wilson for exposing some of the most outrageous lies told by Bush and Cheney to gain support for invading Iraq, it is she and not Scooter Libby who has been punished more severely. What is most egregious about the dismissal of Valerie Plame's lawsuit, not to mention what is least surprising, is that the decision was made by judge with extraordinarily strong ties to the Bush administration. This is clearly a case of conflict of interest on the part of Judge John D. Bates.

Judge John D. Bates was appointed to his position as a federal judge by Pres. George W. Bush in 2001. Why was Bates deemed qualified to serve in such a lofty position? Many believe it may have been another case of Pres. Bush rewarding people for serving the Republican Party over the interests of the American people. Judge John D. Bates, after all, had been intensely involved in the 60 million dollar waste of taxpayer money known as the Ken Starr Whitewater investigation; an investigation which resulted in a completely exoneration of any wrongdoing by both William and Hillary Clinton.