Summary
U. S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan advanced the people's right to know what their government is doing in directing Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper and NBC Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert to disclose to a grand jury their conversations with a specified Bush administration official suspected of violating the Intelligence Agents Protection Act of 1982.
In a Memorandum Opinion filed on July 20, 2004, in In Re: Special Counsel Investigation, Judge Hogan denied the free press clause of the First Amendment endowed the newsmen with a privilege to conceal confidential governmental sources who blew the cover of CIA operative Valerie Plame to discredit her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson. As Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart lectured, freedom of the press aims to provide organized and informed scrutiny of government. James Madison observed in protesting the odious Sedition Act of 1798 that "the right of freely examining public characters and measures ... has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right."See the full content of this document
Extract
Losing Sight of Free Press Aims
The compelling watchdog role of the press would be turned on its head if reporters were permitted to conceal direct evidence of a national security crime allegedly committed by a high officer of the executive branch to retaliate against Mr. Wilson for ...
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