Opinion | Steve Vladeck: 'It’s easy to blame Trump's Justice Department for taking the first step down such a slippery free speech slide. But part of the blame also lies with Congress.' - NBCNewsThink
Theunsealed against Julian Assange by the Justice Department on Thursday tees up a major test case for the relationship between press freedom and the Constitution. Not because Julian Assange is a journalist; he isn’t. And not because the conduct alleged in the indictment, if proven, should be protected by the Constitution; it shouldn’t be.
So when The New York Times or Washington Post publish scoops based upon leaked classified information, technically, they are violating the plain language of the Espionage Act — even if the scoop is revealing an unlawful government program or some other matter of unquestionable public concern.
In the 102 years that the act has been on the books, the government had never prosecuted a journalist for retaining or publishing classified national security information.
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