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« And by the way ... | Main | Torture-'n'-warrantless-wiretapping roundup »
TO: CIA counterterrorism officers
FROM: Lex
DATE: 9/12/2006
RE: Lawsuit insurance
If you hadn't broken well-known, clearly established U.S. and international law, you wouldn't need lawsuit insurance.
(Aside: As a taxpayer, I'd like to know: Why, exactly, am I paying for this insurance? And what connections, if any, do the people who run this "private insurance plan" have to the administration?)
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Comments (3)
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Politics and feelings on this issue aside.... Do you really think you can only be sued if you do something wrong or illegal? I didnt think so.
Mick
Posted on September 14, 2006 10:27 AM
No, Mick, and that's a good question. But having had a number of relatives in government service, I have some feel -- albeit not a scientific analysis, certainly -- for how extraordinary this is.
Posted on September 14, 2006 10:31 AM
Coincidentally, I also stumbled across this Supreme Court case, Kilbourn v. Thompson (103 US 168), which basically says that people who knowingly carry out illegal orders can be held just as responsible as the people who ordered them. (In the particular set of circumstances outlined in this case, a member of Congress gave the illegal order while on the congressional floor, where the Constitution's speech-and-debate clause gave him legal immunity. So the people carrying out the order were even more legally exposed than the people who gave the order.)
That suggests that some of those buying insurance might be doing exactly the right thing. And this goes beyond torture to implementing the administration's warrantless wiretapping in violation of FISA and, perhaps, carrying out other illegal orders the president or his proxy might have issued.
Posted on September 14, 2006 3:54 PM