Last month, National Review's Ed Whelan exposed a conflict of interest problem for New York Times supreme court reporter Linda Greenhouse. To make a long story short, Greenhouse's husband, Eugene Fidell, had filed friend-of-the-court briefs on behalf of Gitmo detainees in the Boumedienne and Hamdan cases before the Supreme Court. Greenhouse had reported on those cases -- without divulging her husband's connection.

This month, Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt finally got around to looking into it, and how Hoyt handles this will tell us a lot about him. (Greenhouse has already demonstrated her culpability.)

First, Hoyt's e-mail:

Thank you for writing. I am aware of your blog post and am looking into the issue. Linda Greenhouse tells me, categorically, that her husband, Eugene Fidell, has never represented any detainee, is not involved as a lawyer in the case about which you wrote and did not file a brief in that case. I'd appreciate it if you could steer me to the brief you said he filed. [emphasis added]

Whelan's summary of his response (follow the link for the particulars):

I don't see what significance Linda Greenhouse could possibly attach to the question whether her husband was representing a detainee (as opposed to an amicus in support of the detainee), and I never stated that he was. Mr. Fidell "is" not presently involved as a lawyer in Boumediene. But he was involved as a lawyer, and did submit a brief, in this same case at the D.C. Circuit stage, and he has been and remains publicly aligned, as a signatory to amicus Constitution Project's statement, with the position of the detainees. Further, he submitted an amicus brief in the Supreme Court in support of the detainees in Hamdan, so it would seem difficult for Ms. Greenhouse to reconcile whatever line she is trying to draw in the Boumediene case with her course of conduct in Hamdan.

My prediction: Hoyt writes a lukewarm, split-the-difference three-paragraph explanation buried deep in a future column. Times Editor Bill Keller takes no disciplinary action against Greenhouse and she continues on as before.