When I saw that the Carter Page case drew Judge Dabney Friedrich, I had some hope that he might get some justice.
I say this because Donald Trump appointed Friedrich.
As it turns out, that did not matter, because Judge Friedrich dismissed the case on Thursday.
Sorry, Carter
The ruling stated, “Page alleges that the individual defendants violated §§ 1809(a) and 1810 both by unlawfully engaging in electronic surveillance and using or disclosing the fruits of that surveillance. ... Each defendant claims that Page fails to sufficiently allege that he or she violated the statute.
“The Court finds that the claims are not time-barred but that Page does not state a claim against any of the individual defendants.
“This plain-text understanding — that Congress allowed suit against only those who conduct unauthorized surveillance, and not those who at the application stage mislead the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court] to approve that surveillance — may seem odd.
“But it is not so ‘absurd when considered in the particular statutory context,’ as the Court must.”
Page was never charged with any wrongdoing in the case, so he filed suit against numerous parties who were the decision-makers at the time, but if I am reading the ruling right, no claims were made against specific people, which is why the case was dismissed.
The ruling continued, “Some of the defendants, such as Comey, McCabe, Strzok, and Lisa Page, allegedly approved, encouraged, and facilitated Page’s investigation and the warrant applications.
“Absent from the complaint is any claim that these four defendants participated in drafting or substantively reviewing the faulty applications themselves, let alone that they performed the FISA surveillance and acquired Page’s communications.”
While I am far from a legal expert, it really sounds like Page’s attorneys completely screwed the pooch on this one.
Source: Washington Examiner
