The US' top court on Monday increased the likelihood of jail time for two reporters, refusing to take up a case that pits the news media's promise to protect confidential sources against a demand for information in a court case.
The Supreme Court justices' decision not to intervene leaves reporters Judith Miller of the New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine in contempt of court for refusing to reveal their sources in a leak probe involving CIA officer Valerie Plame. Each reporter faces up to 18 months in jail.
Officials in the Bush administration leaked Plame's identity after her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, publicly undercut the president's rationale for invading Iraq.
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald said he looks forward to wrapping up the investigation while Time said the magazine would raise additional legal issues to a federal judge on Cooper's behalf. Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger said it was shocking that Miller faces a prison sentence for doing routine newsgathering on an important public issue and keeping her word to her sources, while not even writing a story.
Miller said journalists "simply cannot do their jobs without being able to commit to sources that they won't be identified."
The Newspaper Association of America called on Congress to enact shield legislation that would protect reporters from having to disclose confidential sources.
Plame's name was first made public in 2003 by conservative columnist Robert Novak, who cited unidentified senior Bush administration officials as his sources for the information. There has been no public explanation for why prosecutors are not pursuing Novak.
The column appeared after Plame's husband wrote a newspaper opinion piece criticizing the Bush administration's claim that Iraq sought uranium in Niger.
Disclosure of an undercover intelligence officer's identity can be a federal crime. Fitzgerald says his only unfinished business is testimony from Cooper and Miller.
A federal judge held the reporters in contempt last fall, and an appeals court rejected their argument that the Constitution shielded them from revealing their sources.
Every state but Wyoming recognizes some level of protection for reporters to keep their sources' identities confidential.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese