[JURIST] Valerie Plame, the undercover operative whose revealed identity precipitated the CIA leak scandal [JURIST news archive], filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] in federal court Thursday against Vice President Dick Cheney, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove [official profile] and former vice-presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [defense trust profile] for their alleged roles in the scandal. In the suit, Plame asserts that Cheney, Rove, Libby and 10 unnamed administration officials violated her rights to privacy, free speech, and equal protection under the US Constitution, claiming that the defendants conspired to expose Plame, threatening her career and endangering her family. Plame contends that the defendants revealed her identity as an undercover CIA operative in retaliation for the statements made by her husband, former US ambassador Joseph Wilson, in which he denied that Saddam Hussein had attempted to purchase materials for a nuclear weapon in Niger, as the Bush administration had claimed.

Libby, the only government official facing criminal prosecution in the scandal, pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] in November to charges of obstruction of justice and perjury [indictment, PDF; JURIST report], and some believe President Bush may pardon him [JURIST report]. AP has more.