I so want to work on this appeal.

A federal district court judge dismissed Valerie Plame's suit against the Bush Administration today regarding the leak of her identity as an undercover CIA agent.

Apparently it wasn't good enough for him. Well, sort of....

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds and said he would not express an opinion on the constitutional arguments. Bates dismissed the case against all defendants: Cheney, White House political adviser Karl Rove, former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

The judge stated, in his opinion:

"The alleged means by which defendants chose to rebut Mr. Wilson's comments and attack his credibility may have been highly unsavory, " Bates wrote. "But there can be no serious dispute that the act of rebutting public criticism, such as that levied by Mr. Wilson against the Bush administration's handling of prewar foreign intelligence, by speaking with members of the press is within the scope of defendants' duties as high-level Executive Branch officials."

Um....no. Their jobs do not include attacking the credibility of anyone. Show me where in the spirit, word or interpretation of the constitution that the president and his or her staff has the authority, permission or directive to do this. If can you show me that, I have a house on Mars I'd like to sell you.

And just to add insult to injury, the now-free Libby's attorney had this gem to add:

"This just dragged on the character assassination that had gone on for years," said Alex Bourelly, one of Libby's lawyers. "To have the case dismissed is a big relief."

Yeah...money was exchanged on this one.