The ruling comes in a $70 million suit Rather filed against CBS charging he lost his evening anchor job as a result of pressure from the White House over the Bush story, The New York Post reported Wednesday.

Judge Iran Gammerman has given the green light to Rather's lawyers to talk to Erick Rigler, who was hired by the network to look into the controversial 2004 report on Bush's Vietnam-era Air National Guard service.

Commenting on the judge's ruling Tuesday, Rather said, "proving the truth of the story is all I ever wanted."

"We have nothing to hide," said CBS lawyer James Quinn. "It's one of those sad cases where a person at the end of his career wants to go back after people he feels mistreated him."