WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court Monday refused to review a lower-court ruling that Rep. Jim McDermott improperly leaked a GOP phone conversation.
McDermott, D-Wash., gave reporters a taped cell phone conversation involving House Republican leaders discussing the ethics case against Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.
An appellate court ruling left in place a previous court decision ordering McDermott to pay House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, $60,000 in damages and more than $800,000 in legal costs to Boehner, The Hill reported.
"I knew when I asked the Supreme Court to review this case that the odds were against me, since the court accepts only a small fraction of the cases submitted," the newspaper reported McDermott said in a statement. "Nonetheless, I thought that the constitutional principles presented -- the First Amendment protection of truthful speech and the separation of powers doctrine -- warranted the court's attention."