James Risen, a Pulitzer Prize-winner at the New York Times, may face jail time on a federal contempt of court charge if he doesn’t release the identity of one of his confidential sources. The Bush Administration’s Justice Department tried to pry the information out of him, but ultimately relented. Now President Obama, who vowed to restore our civil liberties when he ran for the White House in 2008, is letting his Justice Department pursue Risen even more aggressively than Bush did. The information concerns a source for a chapter in Risen’s terrific 2006 book, “State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration.” That chapter dealt with a scheme to give the Iranians faulty blueprints for a nuclear weapon. The U.S. government alleges that the source was Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA employee, whom the Justice Department is prosecuting under the Espionage Act. Risen all along has invoked his privilege as a journalist under the First Amendment not to reveal his source. A lower court agreed with him, but an appellate court sided with Obama’s Justice Department. In a sharp dissenting opinion, Judge Roger Gregory, who was appointed both by President Clinton and by President George W. Bush, sided with Risen. Judge Gregory said the appellate court’s decision was “contrary to the will and wisdom of our Founders.” In January Risen, appealed that decision to the Supreme Court. In his petition for a writ of certiorari, Risen wrote: “If I am forced to testify, it will immediately and substantially harm my ability to gather newsworthy information” and “to secure the trust of sources in the future.” progressive.org/news/2014/05/187681/obama-threatens-pulitzer-prize-winner
Posted on: Sat, 10 May 2014 01:27:27 +0000
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