Boehner wins civil suit against McDermott

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) did not have the right to disclose a tape that contained an illegally recorded call between now-Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and members of Republican leadership in 1996, according to a D.C. United States Court of Appeals ruling released Tuesday.

According to court documents, Boehner, who was then Republican Conference chairman, participated in a conference call of Republican leaders, including then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.). The GOP leaders discussed Gingrich’s decision to accept a reprimand from the ethics committee in exchange for the committee’s pledge not to hold a hearing.

The cell phone conversation was picked up by a police scanner and taped by two individuals, John and Alice Martin, who later passed it along to McDermott. The lawmaker, who was the ranking Democrat on the ethics panel at the time, then gave the tape to the media.

{mosads}“When Representative McDermott became a member of the Ethics Committee, he voluntarily accepted a duty of confidentiality that covered his receipt and handling of the Martins’ illegal recording,” the decision said. “He therefore had no First Amendment right to disclose the tape to the media.”

McDermott had argued that he lawfully obtained the tape, allowing him to release it to the media under the First Amendment; however, as a member of the ethics committee he was subject to a set of rules prohibiting him from “disclosing evidence relating to an investigation to any person or organization outside the committee” unless authorized to do so.

Boehner and McDermott did not immediately comment on the decision.