Dec. 21, 1996
U.S. Rep. John Boehner and then-Speaker Newt Gingrich participate in a conference call with Republican Party strategists to discuss damage control for Mr. Gingrich's admission that he had broken House rules. A Florida couple, John and Alice Martin, intercept the call on their police scanner and record it.

January, 1997
The special counsel to the House ethics committee said that by participating in the conversation, Mr. Gingrich had violated an agreement he made with the ethics committee that neither he nor his surrogates would orchestrate a public defense to minimize the damage from the ethics panels' findings, which had not been announced by Dec. 21.

Jan. 7, 1997
The Martins give the tape in a sealed envelope to the Florida office of former U.S. Rep. Karen Thurman and it is forwarded to her office in Washington. After seeking legal advice, Ms. Thurman's chief of staff gives the tape back to the Martins, who were visiting Washington, and suggest they turn over the tape to the Ethics Committee.

Jan. 8, 1997
The Martins personally give the tape in the sealed envelope to the top-ranking Democrat on the House ethics committee, U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, with a typed letter explaining the tape is a recording of a conference call heard over a scanner. Mr. McDermott later denies seeing the accompanying letter.

Mr. McDermott, D-Wash., listens to the tape in his office and calls two reporters. A reporter from the New York Times joins the congressman in his office to listen to the tape and records it. The second reporter, from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, visits Mr. McDermott in his office to listen to the tape the next day. Both newspapers print stories several days later about the contents of the tape and say it was made available by a Democratic congressman.

Jan. 13, 1997
In a press conference, the Martins reveal that they gave the tape to Mr. McDermott, who subsequently sends copies of the tape to the ethics committee and recuses himself from the ethics probe into Mr. Gingrich's activities. The ethics committee hands the tape over to the Justice Department.

April 1997
After a Justice Department investigation, the Martins plead guilty to illegally intercepting the telephone call under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and are fined $500.

March 1998
Mr. Boehner, whose cell connection to the Dec. 21 discussion with Gingrich and other Republican leaders allowed the call to be intercepted, sues Mr. McDermott under the federal wiretapping statute. He is permitted to use campaign money to pay for the lawsuit.

July 1998
The district court dismisses Mr. Boehner's lawsuit after finding that even though the call was taped illegally, Mr. McDermott's decision to give the tape to news organizations was protected by the First Amendment.

1999
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reverses the lower court's decision ruling in favor of Mr. Boehner.

2001
The Supreme Court vacates the judgment of the appeals court and asks the lower courts to review the case again in light of their recent judgment in a similar case, Bartnicki v. Vopper.

2004
The federal district court, which originally dismissed the case, reverses its original decision and awards Mr. Boehner $10,000 in statutory damages, $50,000 in punitive damages and attorney's fees (Mr. Boehner has requested about $600,000 for the fees).

March -- May 2006
The same three-judge panel affirms the lower court in a 2-1 decision in favor of Mr. Boehner. In the majority opinion, Judge A. Raymond Randolph writes that the Bartnicki case is not applicable because Mr. McDermott knowingly received the tape from an illegal interceptor. Mr. McDermott appeals yet again, asking the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reconsider the three-judge panel's decision, which his lawyers argue "has jeopardized the First Amendment."