Court Orders 4 Reporters to Reveal Sources

By Carol D. Leonnig - Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - Washington Post

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that although journalists have a qualified privilege to protect anonymous sources, it was outweighed by two key factors in Lee's case: The reporters had information central to his lawsuit, and Lee's attorneys had sufficiently exhausted their efforts to find the alleged leakers ...

The arrogance of journalists is imploding as the abuses they have long practiced under their proclaimed immunity from revealing sources is finally being addressed by the courts.

The reporters in the Wen Ho Lee case have not been sentenced yet, but their "contempt of court" sentence is unlikely to be much less than the sentences in a similar case. Reporters in that case (the Victoria Plame investigation) implied that their leaks came from the White House while insisting they did not have to say where they came from. The Supreme Court has allowed to stand a lower court ruling that they must testify. They are facing 18 months in jail for contempt of court.

The Supreme Court is showing again that they alone will determine what rights anyone has, with little concern for the constitution or law. Even as they have shredded laws passed by the legislatures, and by the people of various states, they are now shredding their own previous rulings of what the Constitution means.

You may have heard of their idiot ruling allowing the Ten Commandments to be displayed or not displayed, based on the intent of the person intitiating the display, as divined by a judge reading the mind of that person. I am not sure why some conservatives are lauding this ruling. It is as mindlessly inconsistent. Who can honestly read anothers mind? This is the determination of what is legal, what someone is thinking when they take an act?

The problem we have today is that the courts are arrogantly seizing control of every aspect of life, and requiring that everyone come into court for permission to take any action, or face punishment for not guessing what the courts would have ruled.

I don't like reporters and am glad to see their powers to destroy others with false accusations curtailed. That does not mean that this ruling, essentially giving more power to courts that need to be slapped down themselves, is deserving of any respect.