Naw, Just kidding.  Like that would actually happen.

No, as expected he continues to insist that his illegal activities were a matter of free speech as his latest appeal was rejected.

Appeals Court rules against McDermott in taped-call case

U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott had no right to disclose the contents of an illegally taped telephone call involving House Republican leaders a decade ago, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

In a 5-4 opinion, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that McDermott, D-Seattle, should not have given reporters access to the taped telephone call.

McDermott’s offense was especially egregious since he was a senior member of the House ethics committee, the panel ruled.

Well, yea that would seem to make sense huh?

When he became a member of the ethics panel, McDermott “voluntarily accepted a duty of confidentiality that covered his receipt and handling of the … illegal recording. He therefore had no First Amendment right to disclose the tape to the media,” Judge A. Raymond Randolph wrote on behalf of the court. Four judges agreed with him.

The ruling upholds a previous decision ordering McDermott to pay House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, more than $700,000 for leaking the taped conversation. The figure includes $60,000 in damages and more than $600,000 in legal costs.

Pay up cheapo.  He is said to be debating whether to appeal to the SCOTUS.

In case you are not familiar with the details, here is a previous article to reference:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2002895236_webmcdermott28.html

And I also wrote my thoughts on the man and his march to sophistry and rationalization in this blog and this blog.

As I said then:

The fact is Jimbo, you didn’t give a rat’s ass about the public’s right to know anything, nor was justice on your mind. All you cared about was creating a scandal to hurt Newt Gingrich and the other Republicans.  Be a man and admit it.