“But why did they send her to jail? She didn’t even do anything!”
I’ve received a bunch of reader emails asking how the hell Judith Miller could be sent to jail over a story she didn’t even write. Although I think it’s a disgrace that she was actually sent to prison, I honestly don’t see how it could have been different. Why?
The issue here is contempt – whether or not a story was written, a source leaked to Judy and the grand jury wanted to know who. The devil is in the details we don’t know: who Novak’s source was, whether it was the same as Cooper’s, or Miller’s (well, we know it wasn’t, now), and what those damn eight pages said. (More than anything else I think those eight pages are the kicker. It is SO highly unusual to redact that much. What’s in them?)
So. Bearing this in mind, what choice did Judge Hogan have? Flawed or not, the system only exists if the rules are followed and respected, right or wrong. It doesn’t mean civil disobedience isn’t possible, or laudable (NB Time, Inc.!); but civil disobedience with no consequences is devoid of meaning or power.
No, the only hope here was that Fitgerald would recommend lenience (and we all know that didn’t happen) or that the sources would waive their right to anonymity (which we know did happen, for Cooper). But for Judy, contempt was the only way to go; and as such, unfortunately, this was the only way it could go.
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