A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has reaffirmed an earlier decision that Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., is liable for damages in a case brought against him by House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio.

In a case that has been in the courts for years, the judges ruled 2-1 today that McDermott was not protected by the First Amendment when he accepted an illegally taped conversation in 1996 between Boehner and then-speaker Newt Gingrich and passed it along to the New York Times.

At the time, McDermott was the ranking Democrat on the House ethics committee, which ruled last year that he broke panel rules when he leaked the secretly recorded information.

McDermott had argued that he was exercising his First Amendment rights when he gave a tape of the call to reporters and did not break the law because he merely passed along the information and did not participate in obtaining it.

But the court disagreed.

The court ruling upheld an award to Boehner of $10,000 in statutory damages, $50,000 in punitive damages as well as attorney costs of more than $600,000, according to Boehner.