Carter Page Loses Supreme Court Appeal in James Comey Defamation Case
On Monday, the Supreme Court denied Carter Page’s effort to reinstate a lawsuit against former FBI Director James Comey and others regarding their involvement in a federal inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
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Page’s lawsuit centered on falsehoods in warrant requests that aimed to gain judicial approval for conducting surveillance on him during the investigation. A probe conducted by a Justice Department oversight body subsequently revealed that the warrant requests were defective.
Carter Page Lawsuit Targets James Comey Over FBI Surveillance
Comey and seven other individuals who worked at the FBI during that period were all sued personally. Additional claims made by Page against the federal government were recently resolved by the Trump administration and were no longer relevant in his appeal.
“A spokesperson for the Justice Department stated in a press release following the settlement that no American should be subjected to secret and illegal monitoring due to their political beliefs.” “The inquiry into Carter Page — an individual who was never accused of any crime — depended on fundamentally flawed and unverified information, revealing it was a political farce from the start.”
Carter Page Lawsuit Renews Scrutiny of James Comey and FBI Actions
Trump, who has continually condemned the whole Russia inquiry into his 2016 campaign as a “hoax,” defended Page and charged the FBI with politically motivated actions in targeting him.
A federal judge decided that Page delayed too long to submit his lawsuit, a determination confirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Read: Why Trump Wants to Suspend Habeas Corpus — And What It Could Mean
Page claimed that FBI officials and the government had breached multiple federal laws, but the only allegations relevant to the Supreme Court appeal following the partial settlement were those against Comey and other individuals for purportedly infringing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
David N. Kelley, an attorney for Comey, chose not to comment on the settlement after it was disclosed in a Supreme Court filing in April.
