The Washington, D.C. Court of appeals, the judicial system from which President George W. bush catapulted John Roberts into the seat of Rehnquest as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, has struck again.

It ruled yesterday the the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lacks authority to regulate hedge funds, as reported in yesterday’s edition and again in today’s edition of The New York Times.

Hedge funds include swaptions of all kinds, including interest-rate swaps.

Swaptions are used to refund, or refinance, instituional and municipal bonds; e.g., Northampton County’s 2001 $111 million bond and Bethlehem City’s 2004 refinancing of its 1994 $94 million Bethlehem Authority bond.

Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan and his the city’s business administrer Dennis Reichert interceded in a financial transaction reserved exclusively for the Bethlehem Authority and over the strongest objections of the Authority’s executive director Ronald Donchez, who threatened to resign over the usurpation of his authority and that of the Bethlehem Authority.

Northampton County’s 2004 swaption refunding of the General Purpose Authority’s 2001 $111 million bond violated Pennsylvania’s Municipal Authorities Act of 1945 As Amended and the county’s own Home Rule Charter - violations covered-up by Northampton County officials including county council president at the time, J. Michael Dowd, who also represents the county seat of Easton of council; and District Attorney John Morganelli, who has also covered-up the Bethlehem City swaption refunding.

The Bethlehem City violations are documented in the Bethlehem City Council meeting recorded in the official July 20, 2004, minutes.

These incriminating minutes appeared on the Internet only a  short while.

They were restored only after I complained to Bethlehem City Councilwoman Jean Belinski on her WGPA-AM Friday-morning call-in, talk-show broadcast.

She promptly restored the minutes, but they have again disappeared from the Internet.