Where Was The Crime, Judge?

The saga of Matthew Cooper and Judith Miller and Plame-Gate soldiers on. In the latest salvo from the Fourth Estate, 36 news organizations and journalism groups filed a friend-of-the-court brief yesterday asserting that the court should first determine whether the release of Valerie Plame’s name constituted a crime before it allows prosecutors to compell the journalists involved to divulge their sources.

The 40-page amicus brief, filed by the Post and other organizations, says that the court should hold a hearing to determine whether the stated law, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, was actually meant to include journalists during their jobs. If not, there’s no reason to continue the case and see Cooper and Miller risk jail time. Bruce W. Sanford, a lawyer who handled the brief told the Post, “It’s a very poor result if somehow reporters got entangled in a net of prison sentences in an investigation which ends up with no indictment because no crime has been committed.”

Cooper’s Time Magazine and Miller’s New York Times also yesterday asked the full D.C. Circuit Appeals Court to review the case, continuing to argue that reporters have a First Amendment right to protect confidential sources.

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