Former FBI whistleblower (Sibel Edmonds)files against judge in Libby trial

Former FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds filed a motion asking for the recusal of the judge assigned to her case because of his alleged "bias to secrecy," RAW STORY has learned.

Edmonds, who was hired as an FBI language specialist shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, translated tapes which allegedly shed light on shoddy work done by the bureau, then was subsequently gagged from telling her story by federal courts. A 2004 Justice Department review found that many of her claims about her treatment by the bureau were supported.

The motion, filed in federal court on Tuesday, requests the recusal of Judge Reggie Walton from her pending case filed under the Federal Tort Claim Act. Walton is also currently hearing the perjury case involving I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, who is suspected of leaking the name of former CIA undercover operative Valerie Plame Wilson to the media.

Edmonds' motion for recusal is partially based on Judge Walton’s financial disclosure statement for 2003, which is almost completely redacted save for the date of the filing and the judge's name (pdf link). According to Edmonds, this redacted statement "appears to be in violation of the Ethics in Government Act." The Act requires judges and other high-level judicial branch officials to file annual financial disclosure reports as a check on potential conflicts of interest.

Security & Terrorism

FBI Whistleblower asks judge to withdraw

By SHAUN WATERMAN
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor

WASHINGTON, March 24 (UPI) -- An FBI whistleblower is calling on the judge in her case to recuse himself, because his decision to keep his financial disclosure information private creates the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI contract linguist who revealed the parlous state of the bureau's translation unit, filed her motion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Wednesday.

Citing the provision of the U.S. code that requires a federal judge to disqualify himself "in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned," Edmonds' motion asks for District Judge Reggie Walton to withdraw and another judge to be assigned to the case.

The case in question -- a suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act -- is the latest in a series that Edmonds has fought against the FBI in furtherance of her claim that she was retaliated against by managers after raising serious questions about security in the bureau's Washington translation unit.

Wednesday's motion cites Walton's decision to exercise a rarely used privilege and redact from public disclosure the entirety of his annual statement of financial interests, and what it calls "the convoluted movement of (Edmonds') cases among courts all leading back to Judge Walton."

...

The motion says that the public perception -- whether justified or not -- is clearly visible on the Internet where a quick search "shows hundreds, if not thousands of news Web sites and bloggers advancing the belief or implying that the assignment of judge Walton to both (Edmonds') cases ... is anything but coincidence."