COURT RULING A SETBACK FOR LIMBAUGH

The State's Highest Court Ruled In Favor Of Prosecutors Who Are Looking To
Charge Rush Limbaugh With Illegally Buying Painkillers

Investigators should be able to examine the medical records of conservative
talk show host Rush Limbaugh, Florida's Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

In a 4-3 vote, the court declined to review Limbaugh's appeal from a lower
court, where he argued that a seizure of his medical records was a
violation of his privacy.

Thursday's decision may bring prosecutors one step closer to charging
Limbaugh if they determine he illegally bought prescription painkillers.

Limbaugh's attorney and a representative for the American Civil Liberties
Union said the ruling Thursday jeopardizes the privacy rights of all
Floridians.

The ACLU's Role

"This is a quintessential ACLU case," said Howard Simon, executive director
of the group's Florida branch. "If you look beyond the central figure, the
celebrity of this case, what it boils down to is diminishing the privacy of
medical records for everyone in the state of Florida."

Roy Black, the Miami lawyer who is representing Limbaugh, issued a written
statement Thursday promoting his client's innocence.

"I have said from the start that there was no violation of the . . .
statute, but that Rush Limbaugh should not have to give up his right to
privacy in order to prove his innocence," Black wrote.

Prosecutors at the Palm Beach County state attorney's office have said they
need to review the medical records before any charges could be filed
against Limbaugh.

2,000 Painkillers

Investigators seized Limbaugh's medical records in November 2003 after
learning that he had received about 2,000 painkillers, prescribed by four
doctors in six months, at a pharmacy near his Palm Beach home. The records
had been sealed from prosecutors pending the outcome of Limbaugh's appeals.

Mike Edmondson, a spokesman for the state attorney's office, said he could
not comment about the ongoing criminal investigation. He said the next step
in the case may be another appeal from Limbaugh's attorney, but he declined
to speculate on details of such an appeal.

Limbaugh, a conservative commentator who can be heard every afternoon on
WIOD-AM 610 in South Florida, took a five-week leave from his radio show in
2003 to enter a rehabilitation program. He acknowledged an addiction to
pain medication, blaming it on severe back pain.

"Only those who have suffered the long-term agony of chronic, severe pain
will understand what Mr. Limbaugh was going through and why the appropriate
medical treatment for his pain was so important," Black wrote.