Deaver’s 2nd Ethics Law Appeal Rejected

Former White House aide Michael K. Deaver moved a step closer to trial on perjury charges when a federal appeals court Monday threw out his second constitutional challenge to pretrial rulings in the case.

The U.S. Court of Appeals declined to hear Deaver’s request that his five-count indictment for lying about his lobbying activities be dismissed on grounds that independent counsel Whitney North Seymour Jr. had no authority to prosecute the case.

Under the 1978 Ethics in Government Act, independent counsels such as Seymour are appointed by a special federal judicial panel. Deaver’s attorneys have challenged Seymour’s authority, contending that only the executive branch of government has the power to prosecute.

Seek to Petition High Court

Deaver’s trial originally had been scheduled for June 8, but it was postponed indefinitely pending the outcome of the constitutional appeals challenging the ethics law. Attorneys for the former White House deputy chief of staff said Monday that they intend to file a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court later this week.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson had rejected Deaver’s initial challenge, a ruling that normally would not be subject to a pretrial appeal. However, Deaver’s attorneys argued that the appellate court should make an exception because of the serious nature of the constitutional challenge. The appeals court rejected that argument.

“We find no reason to make an exception in this case,” the three-judge appellate panel wrote in a unanimous opinion.

Deaver, a longtime confidant of President Reagan, resigned from his White House post to open a private lobbying practice in 1985.

One of his first major contracts was to help the Canadian government win White House support on anti-pollution policies to control acid rain. The Ethics in Government Act restricts the lobbying activities of former government officials, barring them from lobbying their former agencies for one year after they leave office.

Last March, Deaver was charged with lying to a federal grand jury and to the House Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee about his activities as a lobbyist representing Canada and other foreign governments.

Monday’s appeals court ruling clears the way for Jackson to decide on requests by the independent counsel to subpoena Canadian Ambassador Allan E. Gotlieb to testify at the trial, a move that prompted a diplomatic protest from the government of Canada. Seymour argued that Gotlieb is an essential witness on one count against Deaver.

Both the state and justice departments have sided with Canada, however, and have filed a motion to quash the Seymour subpoena in the national interest.

Hearing Set for Monday

If Deaver continues to lose his appeals, Jackson will preside over the trial. A status hearing on the case was scheduled for Monday.

The ruling was the appeals court’s second decision in the last week on constitutional challenges to the ethics law. Last Monday, the court sidestepped a ruling on Lt. Col. Oliver L. North’s challenge to the authority of independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh, who is investigating the former White House aide’s role in the Iran- contra affair.

The court sent North’s case back to a federal district court to develop more evidence, saying that the dispute was not ready for its review.