Supreme Court rules that victims of Gov't smear campaigns have no legal recourse
Largely lost in all the hoopla over the Supreme Court's review of Obamacare was a quiet decision the all-knowing Justices made that will allow the Federal Government to punish whistle-blowers and other political "enemies" with absolute impunity.
The full story is here: https://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/03/28/149556051/supreme-co...
The basic idea is this: in the past, folks who were deliberately smeared by the government could sue for damages to their reputations, careers, etc. Now, they can only sue for "out-of-pocket" costs.
""In the vast majority of cases where the government intentionally and willfully violates the Privacy Act, individuals could be left with no remedy at all," says Alan Butler of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
"That includes people such as Frederic Whitehurst, the scientist who blew the whistle on sloppy practices at the FBI lab, only to watch as authorities leaked information from his medical and personnel files to discredit him. And Linda Tripp, who made headlines for recording girl talk with the intern who had an affair with President Clinton."
Freedom marches on!
