The Senate Judiciary Committee could be the next stop for those involved in the federal probe into who exposed undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame as it weighs a bill that would protect reporters who refuse to identify their sources.
Those called to testify could include the media outlets and the prosecutor in the case, in which New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed on Wednesday. Plame's identity was first revealed publicly in a column by Robert Novak.
"If they would be interested in coming to testify, I think it would be informative and possibly useful," said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, a former Texas Supreme Court judge and state attorney general.
Despite a pending Supreme Court nomination, Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania has said the media shield bill -- sponsored by Senator Dick Lugar of Indiana -- is one of several he expects to come before his committee this month. A spokesman said on Wednesday that the hearing is tentatively set for July 20 and that a witness list still is being worked out with Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, the panel's top Democrat.
Cornyn said Specter and Leahy would want testimony from those "in the best position to know about all sides of the issue."
The American Society of Newspaper Editors' board of directors voted on Wednesday to endorse the idea of a shield law for reporters to protect them from having to reveal the names of their confidential sources.
A Time magazine reporter who barely escaped being sent to jail on Wednesday said the grand jury probe into who leaked Plame's identity makes the case for such a law.
"I think this clearly points out the need for some kind of a national shield law. There is no federal shield law and that is why we find ourselves here today," said Time's Matthew Cooper.
He spoke as Miller was jailed for refusing to tell US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald who leaked Plame's name to her.
The bill, sponsored in the House by Representative Mike Pence of Indiana would require prosecutors and judges to meet strict national standards and exhaust other remedies before they could subpoena reporters.
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