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Bush Threats Against News Media Largely Hollow

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Tue May 09, 2006 at 08:54:17 AM EST
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Law Professor Geoffrey Stone writes that the Bush Administration's recent threats to prosecute reporters and publishers for printing classified information is not only unprecedented but unlikely to succeed.

the President and some of his supporters have threatened to prosecute reporters and publishers for violating a provision of the 1917 Espionage Act, which provides in part that "whoever having unauthorized possession . . . of information relating to the national defense, which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States . . . willfully communicates . . . the same to any person not entitled to receive it . . . is guilty of an offense punishable by 10 years in prison."

Professor Stone provides three reasons these attempts will fail.

  • "First, this provision was never intended to reach the press."
  • "Second, if the section of the 1917 Act applied to journalists, it would unquestionably violate the First Amendment."
  • "Third, if Congress today enacted legislation incorporating the requirements of the First Amendment, it could not reach the exposés published by the New York Times and the Washington Post, for they were clearly protected by the First Amendment. "
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    Bush Threats Against News Media Largely Hollow | 2 comments (2 topical)
    Re: Bush Threats Against News Media Largely Hollo (none / 0) (#1)
    by lilybart on Tue May 09, 2006 at 11:32:23 AM EST
    AND think about the administration leakers. THEY would be charged with sedition as well....woops.

    Re: Bush Threats Against News Media Largely Hollo (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed May 10, 2006 at 06:32:08 AM EST
    TL, don't know where to post this, and your views on the subject would be interesting. UK hacker 'should be extradited' Speaking after the hearing ended, he said: "My intention was never to disrupt security. The fact that I logged on with no password showed there was no security to begin with."
    Ms Todner said she was worried that any sentence Mr McKinnon received in the US would be "disproportionate" to the scale of the offences he committed.
    Bush Threats Against News Media Largely Hollow | 2 comments (2 topical)