The Timing of the Wilsons' Lawsuit in PlameGate
Posted on Thu Jul 13, 2006 at 06:35:19 PM EST
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I've been wondering why the Wilsons chose today to file their civil lawsuit against Cheney, Libby, Rove et. al. (Background here.)
I figure it has to do with the statute of limitations. July 14, 2003 was when Bob Novak's column outing Valerie Plame was published. So, there must be a three year statute of limitations lurking somewhere.
It's not that easy to determine. The lawsuit is a Bivens federal civil rights lawsuit. Bivens is a judicially created remedy that does not have its own statute of limitations. Usually, Bivens actions borrow the limitations statute in the state where the action arose. And, while state law establishes the statute of limitations, federal law determines when the federal Bivens claims accrued.
Under federal law, the statute of limitations on a Bivens claim "begins to run when the plaintiff knows or has reason to know of the existence and cause of the injury which is the basis of his action." This would seem to be the date Novak's column was published.
Some of the Wilsons' claims allege a violation of their 5th Amendment due process rights. The Supreme Court has recognized the due process clause and its equal protection component as being valid for Bivens claims.
A cause of action and damages remedy can be implied directly under the Constitution when the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment is violated.....
The equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause confers on petitioner a federal constitutional right to be free from gender discrimination that does not serve important governmental objectives or is not substantially related to the achievement of such objectives.
The term "cause of action," as used in this case, refers to whether a plaintiff is a member of a class of litigants that may, as a matter of law, appropriately invoke the power of the court. Since petitioner rests her claim directly on the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, claiming that her rights under that Amendment have been violated and that she has no effective means other than the judiciary to vindicate these rights, she is an appropriate party to invoke the District Court's general federal-question jurisdiction to seek relief, and she therefore has a cause of action under the Fifth Amendment.
Once again, what Novak wrote is this:
Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him. "I will not answer any question about my wife," Wilson told me.
To be continued.
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