During a court hearing in Lower Manhattan this afternoon Judge Ira Gammerman allowed for the deposition of Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone and Dick Thornburgh, the former U.S. Attorney General who, with Louis Boccardi, headed up an independent panel looking into Rather’s discredited “60 Minutes II” report on George W. Bush’s National Guard service.

The judge agreed with CBS’ argument that the deposition from Redstone, who is 86, be limited to no more than half a day. The court also reserved decision on CBS’s motion to dismiss Rather’s fraud claim. A CBS spokesperson tells TVNewser, “This is the fourth attempt in two years by Mr. Rather’s lawyers to present a legal claim of fraud to the court. We are confident it, too, will be dismissed.”

While not setting a date, Judge Gammerman indicated he is moving the case toward trial.

“It is now obvious that this is far more than just a contract dispute,” says Rather’s attorney Gary Meyerhoff. “It goes to the integrity of the gathering and reporting of important national news.”

The lawyers are due back in court Dec. 22.

Gail Shister
TVNewser Columnist

George Will says he would never do it.

Lou Dobbs calls it “a novel idea” but can’t imagine doing it.

Tucker Carlson says he’d do it in a heartbeat.

Will, Dobbs and Carlson, along with 20-plus other conservatives, were apparently on CBS’s list of potential candidates in fall 2004 for its investigative panel on Memogate, the New York Observer reports.

CBS, of course, eventually selected former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and ex-AP chief Louis Boccardi to pass judgment on Dan Rather – now suing his former employers for $70 million.

Newsweek’s Will, CNN’s Dobbs and MSNBC’s Carlson all say they were never contacted.

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The newest development in the Dan Rather case relates to CBS’ independent panel investigation into Rather’s 60 Minutes II report on President George W. Bush‘s military records.

The New York Observer’s Felix Gillette is digging through the “emails, internal memos and transcripts” and found one that stuck out.

It was a list of noted conservatives CBS was considering to be part of the panel. Under the category “other,” there were some interesting names. Roger Ailes, Tucker Carlson, Lou Dobbs and Rush Limbaugh were all part of the list.

In the end, CBS chose former U.S. attorney general Dick Thornburgh and former AP head Louis Boccardi — choices that are part of Rather’s complaint.