McDermott loses suit over recording

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to free Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) from having to pay damages to House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) for letting reporters hear an illegally recorded 1996 phone call among House Republicans.

Without comment, the justices let stand an appeals court ruling that the Constitution’s free-speech guarantee doesn’t shield McDermott from Boehner’s lawsuit. A judge ordered McDermott to pay Boehner $60,000 in damages plus legal fees and costs.

A Florida couple used a radio scanner to illegally record the December 1996 conversation among then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Boehner and other Republican leaders regarding an ethics investigation of Gingrich. The couple gave the recording to McDermott, and he played it for news reporters who wrote articles about the call.