Draining the Fever Swamp: How Sotomayor Punctured the Vince Foster Conspiracy Theory Bubble

[Mr. Ected]

Among Sonia Sotomayor's many judicial accomplishments is the piercing one of the federal government's unnecessary and counterproductive claims of secrecy--and the right-wing conspiracy theories it generated. As the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press notes, in 1995, Sotomayor ordered the public release of the legendary Vince Foster suicide note.

Sotomayor's Republican critics probably may not want to call attention to her jurisprudence in this case. Her order helped drain the fever swamps of right-wing fantasists who said that Foster had been murdered. It also effectively silenced the editors of the Wall Street Journal, Rush Limbaugh and others who had kept the bogus claim alive for years with little more than innuendo. Foster was a White House deputy counsel in the first Clinton administration and a close friend of First Lady Hillary Rodham from their days as law partners in Arkansas. As the Wall Street Journal editorial page mounted a steady stream of attacks on the Clinton's investment in an Arkansas real estate development known as Whitewater alleging that the Clintons were hiding something (exactly what was never clear), Foster became despondent. He committed suicide in a Virginia park overlooking the Potomac River on July 20, 1993.

A day later the White House revealed that a torn-up suicide note had been found in Foster's brief case prompting Limbaugh to say


"had this sort of thing happened in the Reagan or Bush administrations, the press would be all over the White House, insisting that a cover-up was in progress."


In fact, Foster's suicide was exhaustively investigated. By 1995, two law enforcement inquiries and two congressional investigations reached the conclusion that Foster had committed suicide. Along the way, the contents of the reconstructed note were released. It revealed that Foster had written that the Clintons had not violated any law, that Republican had "lied and misrepresented its knowledge" and that "The WSJ editors lie without consequence." The note itself was never made public out of deference to the feelings of Fosters' widow.

Nonetheless, the Journal editorialists continued to push the story that Foster's death was suspicious by putting the word "suicide" in quotes and calling for more investigation. Limbaugh continued to insinuate that the dull details of a backwoods real estate deal hid something nefarious by citing differing accounts of when and how the suicide note was found.

When the Journal sued for release of the note itself in 1995, the Department of Justice resisted citing Lisa Foster's privacy rights. On appeal, Sotomayor sided with the Journal. According to a DOJ summary of the case, her opinion recognized that the family would suffer "pain . . . as a result of any renewed scrutiny," but held that their interest was outweighed by the public's "substantial" interest in "viewing a photocopy of the actual document," insofar as it "touched on several events of public interest, including the controversy involving the White House travel office, and implicated government agencies and employees in misconduct." Sotomayor concluded that the "missing pieces of the note, and therefore the physical look of the note, are an integral part of the public's interest."

The release of a copy of the note itself confirmed that previous transcripts of its contents were accurate. The note quieted--but did not entirely eliminate--allegations that the note was forged. In 1997 Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr, agreed Foster had committed suicide and eventually even Limbaugh conceded the point. In time, most conservative polemicists decided it was necessary to crabwalk away from the "Vince Foster was murdered" crowd. Once again, full disclosure proved the best disinfectant.

Here's the Foster suicide note, as annotated by one conspiracy theorist. Thanks to Sonia Sotomayor, you can judge the issue for yourself.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/05/29/sotomayor_helped_puncture_vince_foster_conspiracy/

[MineralMan]

1. Ah, but assorted freepers, truthers, birthers, and droolers

still think it was a murder. They think all kinds of things, and keep sales of aluminum foil at a high level.