* It turns out that a court does resemble a circus, at least when Jessica Cutler is there, along with a former paramour as plaintiff and an alleged former paramour as defense counsel. Well, not anymore, as defense counsel had to “pull out.” MORE »

Well, so is Judge Paul L. Friedman, who is presiding over the invasion-of-privacy lawsuit brought against Jessica by Robert Steinbuch, one of her former lovers. This afternoon Judge Friedman issued a testy memorandum opinion and order (PDF), in which he bench-slapped the lawyers in the case for their ridiculous and embarrassing conduct in the case, as well as their repeated violations of court rules.

Okay, it’s late in the afternoon, on a Friday before a holiday weekend. So forgive us for the somewhat half-assed treatment of an opinion that deserves more thorough scrutiny.

After the jump, excerpts from the ruling, along with our commentary.

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Earlier this month, we reported on the highly suspicious “notice of withdrawal” (hehe) filed by William Bode, former lawyer to Jessica Cutler, the Blogger Formerly Known as Washingtonienne. Now we bring you this update. MORE »

* The big news of the week: according to a new court filing in the Scooter Libby prosecution, Libby testified that he leaked information about a National Intelligence Estimate with the specific permission of President Bush. MORE »

Here at Wonkette, we own up to our mistakes. Earlier today, we stated that Robert Steinbuch, the former lover of Jessica Cutler who is now suing her for invasion of privacy, teaches at the same law school where Bill Clinton — another man with a thing for interns — once taught. MORE »

Yes, we know you’re getting tired of her; so are we (and just wait until her TV show airs). But since this blog owes some of its prominence to reporting her misadventures, we owe you an update about Jessica Cutler.

According to the Associated Press:

A judge on Wednesday allowed a lawsuit to proceed against Jessica Cutler, the former Senate aide who posted details of her sex life on the Internet. The case brought by Sen. Mike DeWine’s former counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Robert Steinbuch, alleges that Cutler engaged in an invasion of his privacy in 2004 by publishing sexually explicit facts about a relationship with Steinbuch.

But even though the judge declined to dismiss the suit, his ruling on the statute-of-limitations issue may not bode well for Steinbuch:

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ruled that Steinbuch had one year from the time of the Internet postings to bring the matter to court. Almost all of the material at issue in the case was posted on the Internet more than a year before the lawsuit was filed May 18, 2005.

Steinbuch, by the way, is now a law professor at the University of Arkansas (where Bill Clinton used to teach). Kinda gross to imagine your professor entering through the back door, isn’t it?

Yawn, this is boring; we don’t care about this technical legal crap. Where’s all the juicy stuff?

After the jump, of course.

Update: This post is the subject of a correction.

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* Reliable Source: Federal judge accepts invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against Jessica Cutler; a former lover claims her blog caused “severe emotional distress, humiliation, embarassment and anguish”. . . Sen. Barbara Mikulski collects winnings from bet with Sen. Elizabeth Dole on women’s NCAA championship. . . Laurence Fishburne sighted at Cafe Milano. [WP]
* Lloyd Grove’s Lowdown: Alec Baldwin would rather sleep with Sen. Dianne Feinstein than Ann Coulter: “With Coulter, we’d have sex and I’d have to jump out the window. I wouldn’t even get dressed.” Replies Coulter, “That’s the only reason I can think of for wanting to have sex with Alec Baldwin.”. . . Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame plan to leave town, but not before Cheney, Rove, and Libby do. [NYDN]
* Page Six: Oddsmaker puts Hillary’s chances in ‘08 at 3:1 and McCain’s at 6:1. [NYP]

• The latest indignity to be visited upon disgraced blogger Ben Domenech: a put-down from the Washingtonienne. Jessica Cutler to Ben: “Eat it.” (Careful, Jessica — he might take you up on that.) [Jessica Cutler Online]
• It’s confirmed: Justice Scalia used an obscene gesture, but not that obscene gesture. [E&P]
• First we got Dick Cheney’s rider, followed by John Kerry’s. Now: Donald Rumsfeld’s? [The Satirical Political Report]

* President Bush moves to replace Gale Norton as Interior Secretary with Dirk Kempthorne — who may have some skeletons in his closet (and is less popular than Spuddy Buddy). MORE »

MORE »

wonkette: sarah jessica parker’s exec producing a sitcom about jessica cutler. seriously, i need something to say beyond “jesus fucking christ i hate america”
operative: i think that works
operative: hey, if it keeps her off the streets….
wonkette: obviously, i just wanted someone else to share my pain
operative: also: America needs to know that lobbyists are not, in fact, the lowest form of Washington life
wonkette: clearly. if they were, there would be sitcoms about them.
operative: also: as if flyover country needed more proof that DC is an amoral wasteland
operative: wait til the tourism board hears about this? heeelllllo, cherry pie, indeed!
operative: SHE GOT A BLENDER
operative: not even A REAL HOOKER
operative: BLENDER
operative: the mind boggles what she’d do for a viking range
wonkette: it certainly doesn’t help the whole dc inferiority complex. our most famous whores make out like runners-up on game shows
operative: most famous whores wear fedoras to their indictment
operative: omg
operative: the ABRAMOFF-CUTLER show!
operative: so best
wonkette: !!!
operative: i would totally watch that
wonkette: sharing an apartment, natch. accidental pda switch leads to HILARIOUS MIX-UPS
operative: doing coke together, talking about body image issues
wonkette: clearly a dharma and greg for the post 9/11 world MORE »