Rep. Jim McDermott lost his last appeal below the Supreme Court for his convinction in distributing the notorious Waffle House telephone tap tapes of Republican Congressional leaders. The Canticle for Leibowitz blog reports  The U. S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, ruling en banc, delivered another in a long series of verdicts that have found Representative Jim McDermott, serving his 9th term representing Washington's 9th district, violated the rights of Rep. John Boehner when McDermott leaked an illegally taped conversation. The Court also ruled that Mr. McDermott broke House Ethics rules. McDermott was a member of the House Ethics Committee at the time.Earlier, a federal court ordered McDermott to pay Boehner $700,000 in damages and legal costs. The suit, Boehner vs. McDermott, was the first ever between two sitting Representatives.The full opinion is online here.(Read Full Post)