Catastrophic Side Effects

Saturday News Dump:

A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has declared that then-EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and other agency officials can't be held constitutionally liable for making rosy declarations about air quality in the days following the World Trade Center's destruction.

The opinion, written by the court's chief judge, Dennis Jacobs, said opening EPA workers up to lawsuits for giving out bad information during a crisis could have a catastrophic side effect.

"Officials might default to silence in the face of the public's urgent need for information," Jacobs wrote.

The opinion -- Lombardi v. Whitman -- is here.