Sunny Jim's Court Date

The never-ending saga of Seattle Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott's First Amendment right to leak juicy stuff to newspapers has yet another chapter. Today, the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia granted McDermott's request to appeal his latest loss in Boehner v. McDermott.

As readers will recall, in 1996, U.S. Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, was caught on tape scheming with former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich on how the speaker could spin an agreement about wrongdoing with the House Ethics Committee. Some Democratic operatives taped Boehner's cell-phone call on a scanner—which is illegal. McDermott (pictured) was given the tape, he leaked it to the media, and Boehner sued Sunny Jim for invasion of privacy. McDermott won the first round, but lately he's been losing—to the tune of $600,000.

It looks like McDermott is going to fight this case all the way to the Supreme Court. Newspaper readers everywhere should hope he wins.