SPJ national update: Recipients of leaks may be prosecuted, court rules; and documents unsealed in librarian case. In a expansion of the authority to regulate disclosure of national security information, a federal court ruled that even private citizens who do not hold security clearances can be prosecuted for unauthorized receipt and disclosure of classified information. The ruling by Judge T.S. Ellis III denied a motion to dismiss the case of two former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who were charged with illegally receiving and transmitting classified information. The decision is a major interpretation of the Espionage Act with implications that extend far beyond this case. More here. ... Supreme Court filings and documents related to a group of Connecticut librarians targeted by an FBI national security investigation were unsealed in August under order by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The order allowed the ACLU to post on its web site documents containing information that the government forced the organization to file under seal in the nation's highest court, which last fall declined to hear the case between the FBI and the librarians. The unsealed documents illustrate "the absolute absurdity of the government's position," said Melissa Goodman, an ACLU attorney. The documents include ACLU legal filings in which the government redacted direct quotes from Supreme Court opinions and statements like "the cat is out of the bag." More here.
SPJ national update II: Judge bars warrantless surveillance; everything's a secret; and politicians beware, you live in YouTube's world. U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor on Aug. 17 ordered the government to stop warrantless wiretapping of international phone calls between suspected terrorists and their U.S.-based affiliates, ruling that the eavesdropping violates federal law. By not seeking court permission for the surveillance, Taylor said, President George W. Bush violated the Constitution's separation of powers providing for the three branches of government to act as checks on each other. "It was never the intent of the framers to give the president such unfettered control, particularly where his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights," the judge wrote in a 43-page opinion. More here. ... In an ironic twist, legislation that would open the murky world of government contracting to public scrutiny has been derailed by a secret parliamentary maneuver. A senator, later identified as Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, placed a "secret hold" on legislation that would create a searchable database of government contracts, grants, insurance, loans and financial assistance worth $2.5 trillion last year. The database would bring transparency to federal spending and be as simple to use as conducting a Google search. The measure had been unanimously passed in a voice vote last month by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and was on the fast track for floor action before Congress recessed Aug. 4. "It really is outrageous to do this in the dead of night as Congress is recessing," said Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, a budget watchdog group based in Washington. "The public has a right to know how the government spends money." More here and here. ... S.R. Sidarth never imagined his 15 minutes of fame would come from a sleepy campaign stop in the southwest Virginia town of Breaks. Or that his handiwork with a camcorder would catapult to the list of most-watched videos on the web's most-trafficked video site. And Sen. George Allen, R-Va., surely never imagined that the young man assigned to track his appearances would cause him days of grief simply by recording a comment that critics call racist or, at best, insensitive. But in the brave new world of YouTube politics, almost anything is possible. And just 18 months after its launch, the web site is already playing an integral role in campaigns. More here.
