Cheney wants case dismissed

WASHINGTON —  Vice President Dick Cheney asked a federal judge Tuesday to dismiss a lawsuit brought against him by a former CIA operative who says the White House leaked her identity to the media.

Cheney’s attorneys criticized the lawsuit in court papers, saying it invented constitutional rights, intruded on national security discussions and came two years after the statute of limitations had expired.

Former CIA operative Valerie Plame claims that she was exposed in retribution for her husband’s criticism of the administration’s pre-Iraq war intelligence.

Cheney’s former chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who faces trial in January on perjury and obstruction counts, is the only person charged in the case.

Plame’s civil lawsuit is continuing alongside Libby’s criminal case.