Iris Cohen schreef
Ah, yes, I know all about this mess. It has been discussed and rehashed to
death in my orchid newsgroup. Mr. Kovach was also indicted, but I haven't
been able to get hold of all the newspaper articles, so I don't know exactly
what happened to him.

First of all, the main reason for the hoo-ha was that Eric Christenson
sicced the federal government on Selby to get revenge because they fired
him. Secondly, remember that all the paperwork regulations in the world,
both US and CITES, do not save species, especially plants, as long as
habitat destruction continues. All the regulations do is to encourage
smugglers to collect the orchids illegally.

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All too true. However, doing nothing is not even less likely to achieve
anything.
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Third, the rules of taxonomy are independent of politics, & I hope they
stay that way. Phragmipedium kovachii was legally named according to the
International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. I very much doubt that the
botanical authorities will change the name. Are you going to change the name
of Blighia because Admiral Bligh was a convicted sadist?

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Yes, that is a good point. I suppose it would be possible to try and have
the name retracted, but I have never heard of such a case being brought
forward for such a reason. If it was I would not dare guess at its chance of
succes. Mere rejection would be easier, and pretty likely to succeed, if
brought by the original authors, but still unprecedented.
PvR
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Bottom line: why is the US government wasting the taxpayer's money on
nonsense when our meat is inadequately inspected and the No Child Left
Behind Act is underfunded?