Gov't Needs to Investigate Illegal List Leakers

More news on the ongoing battle for "the List:"

SAN FRANCISCO -- An appeals court ruled Wednesday that federal agents were wrong to seize the infamous drug list and samples of 104 Major League Baseball players who allegedly tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. In a 9-2 vote, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with three lower court judges who chastised investigators who had a warrant for only 10 drug test results as part of the BALCO investigation into Barry Bonds and others.

The panel said federal agents trampled on players' protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Chief Judge Alex Kozinski said the players' union had good reason to want to keep the list under wraps, citing leaks of players purportedly on the list. "The risk to the players associated with disclosure, and with that the ability of the Players Association to obtain voluntary compliance with drug testing from its members in the future, is very high," the judge wrote. "Indeed, some players appear to have already suffered this very harm as a result of the government's seizure." "This was an obvious case of deliberate overreaching by the government in an effort to seize data as to which it lacked probable cause," Kozinski wrote. Players' association lawyer Elliot Peters said the union was happy with the ruling but still angry that names of several players allegedly on the list have been leaked to journalists. "The leaks were crimes," Peters said. "The people who committed the crimes should be investigated and punished." Peters declined to say whether he asked a federal judge to look into leaks from the list.

Of course

they should look into the leaks.  Heck, gather the whole Congressional crew that dragged Bud Selig, Roger Clemens, and every other ballplayer up to the Hill and have

them

investigate who caused these leaks.  If Congress can claim any validity to their getting involved in this steroid mess in the first place (besides wanting a few autographs), they should be obligated to follow up on the crimes of their fellow attorneys: prosecutors representing the government. That might be an order of house cleaning that your local representatives might resist taking.  It's one thing to stand on the pulpit and yell at Bud Selig and Donald Fehr for not taking the moral high ground when faced with a choice between millions of dollars or exposing baseball's steroid problem.  It's another to shine the flashlight back on your own kind and demand justice.  Once those attorneys, clerks, paralegals, or whoever are exposed, they would be subject not only to criminal charges, but civil suits as well. Do you want to defend your life against the team of lawyers Alex Rodriguez would bring against you? This situation here, with federal investigators over-extending their authority and associates of theirs illegally releasing information, is a gross abuse of power.  Regardless of what you think about the players exposed through this process and the crimes committed, they did not deserve to be outed by a group of media hungry, over ambitious attorneys with little regard for basic rights. That is why it is paramount for the government to investigate these illegalities with as much fanfare as they conducted the steroid hearings.  There needs to be a precedent set establishing these types of "leaks" as unacceptable and reason for investigation, especially from federal investigators who are privy to information that requires they be held to a higher standard. I doubt it will happen in any honest form.  We may here that there is an ongoing investigation, but little if anything will come to light.  Too often, these leaks happen and no follow-up is ever made, allowing the people who enforce the law to break it without without any threat of punishment of disbarment. Congress, time to clean up your own house, starting with federal investigators.  If it makes you feel better, I'm sure Bud Selig and Donald Fehr would love to conduct the questioning.