This is ripped straight from my own blog, in the hopes that the dKos community might be able to shed some light.
So, according to the NYT, back in 1996 some private citizens made an illegal recording of a cell phone call between Newt Gingrich and sitting Rep. John Boehner (R-OH). They handed it off to sitting Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), who made it public. Eight years later, a judge has ruled McDermott is civilly liable to Boehner for damages as a result.
Now, I'm not clear on whether McDermott was being a true American hero or a first-class punk by releasing this tape; it all depends on what's on it. And the judge's ruling seems to fly in the face of established case law (someone in the article says this would have prevented the Pentagon Papers from being released, among other things). But let's assume that for the moment, this interpretation prevails. Here's my question:
Can Democrats now sue Manuel Miranda (remember him?), Bill Frist, Orrin Hatch, and every other Republican member or staffer of the Senate Judiciary Committee for committing what amounts to precisely the same tort--i.e., illegally obtaining confidential data and then releasing it to the press? Obviously I know nothing about the law, but the only difference at this point seems to be a technical one--the laws that govern wiretapping may not be the same ones that govern theft of computer data.
Anyone have a clue?