Defend Free Speech
January 6, 2011 Leave a comment
This correctly defends the right of the press and others (including, websites like Wikileaks ) to circulate information of the government after it has been leaked by its own employees. At the very least the leaking of information by a low level functionary is a sign of serious government mismanagement and an overreaching of government’s unnecessary classification of information.
Otherwise, anyone utilizing this information might be subject to government prosecution.
It is the job of government to defend its own secrets.
…this proposed law may be constitutional as applied to government employees who unlawfully leak such material to people who are unauthorized to receive it, it would plainly violate the First Amendment to punish anyone who might publish or otherwise circulate the information after it has been leaked. At the very least, the act must be expressly limited to situations in which the spread of the classified information poses a clear and imminent danger of grave harm to the nation.
via A Clear and Present Danger to Free Speech – NYTimes.com.
About Stephen E. McGaughey
Coral Gables Watch 