The attorney who worked to have four Polaroid photos of the body of Vincent Foster released to the public has responded to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to keep those pictures secret.
Foster, a former White House lawyer who worked in the Clinton administration and was a good friend of both the president and first lady, was found dead of a gunshot wound in Fort Marcy Park in July 1993. Two government investigations ruled his death a suicide.
Attorney Allan Favish filed A Freedom of Information Act request for the photographs in a bid to learn whether Foster was truly a victim of suicide or whether he was murdered and dumped in the park, as some witnesses and independent researchers believe.
Favish, who brought the case to the high court, believes it is in the public’s interest to have the autopsy and death-scene photos released.
Arguing the government probes were incomplete, Favish writes in a response to the decision on his website: “The public could not trust the government to filter the evidence, and the public needed to see the raw evidence. The ‘suicide-in-the-park’ conclusion may be correct, but we cannot conclude that from the publicly available evidence. The public only can make educated guesses about what happened. This is unacceptable.”
While Favish states the Supreme Court agreed with him on one of the “sub-issues” in the case, he says it “used false statements about the law and facts and material omissions to rule against me on the major issues.”
In his response, the attorney then identifies what he sees as several problems in the court’s reasoning as stated in its opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Favish concludes: “On page 9 of its opinion the Supreme Court based its decision, in part, on ‘the respect a society shows for the deceased and for the surviving family members.’ But who respects Vincent Foster? Those who perpetuate and tolerate the untrustworthy government investigations and reports accusing him of having killed himself, or those who seek an honest and complete investigation, no matter what might be found?”
It is those who worked to get the photos released, Favish says, who truly respect Foster’s memory.
“None of [those who worked on the case] acted out of disrespect for Foster or his family,” he wrote. “They acted out of a love of America, a concern for the integrity of our law-enforcement agencies and respect for a man who has been accused by the government of killing himself in reports that do not survive scrutiny by anybody who takes the time to analyze the evidence.”
Related stories:
High court won’t release Vince Foster photos
Lawyer loses appeal on Foster photos
Vince Foster medical report withheld
Court orders release of Foster photos
Foster kin seek to block death photos
