34 attorneys general support 'shield' for reporters (Plame Case)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

SALT LAKE CITY -- The attorneys general of at least 34 states including Connecticut will urge the Supreme Court to recognize a reporter's right to keep sources confidential in the case involving the leak of an undercover CIA officer's identity.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, a Republican, is helping assemble the bipartisan group for a friend-of-the-court brief to be filed Friday and said he was working to recruit more attorneys general.

"Everybody's first reaction was, 'Wait a minute. We're chief law enforcement officers of our states, why are we going to support something that makes our jobs harder?"' Shurtleff said Thursday.

"But we've always recognized the importance of constitutional protections. Overall, society is better off with an open press and an informed public. In addition, it's important everyone knows what the rules are. Reporters in fairness need to know they're going to be protected. That argument has turned a lot of AGs around," he said.

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/wire/connecticut/ny-bc-ct--shieldlaw0526may26,0,1994990.story?coll=ny-region-apconnecticut

[William769]

1. Think they would have said that under the Clinton Administration?

[Cha]

2. I don't know..I'd like to see the affiliations

of these AGs..And Eliot Spitzer isn't in there from New York!

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Adding link to NYT article --

State Attorneys General Ask Supreme Court to Hear 2 Reporters' Case
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/28/national/28leak.html

[ToeBot]

4. They shouldn't punish the reporters that had the information...

and didn't publish. What they should be doing is trying Novak for treason. FWIW, Shurtleff is a typical hard core Republican Mormon; towing the party line.

on edit,
he is also ambitious, Orrin Hatch can't live forever (what? you think he will retire, fat chance the only way he'll leave office is in a box.)

[mopinko]

5. cui bono

"Attorney General Mark L. Shurtleff of Utah, a Republican, said he hoped, on the other hand, that the brief filed by the attorneys general would cause the Supreme Court to consider the case."- so that the whole thing remains in legal limbo for a little longer. which is what * wants.

[merh]

6. Are all 34 repukes?

It wouldn't surprise me one bit if they were.

It's not about journalist freedom assholes, it is about national security and violations of federal law. :argh:

[rfkrfk]

7. freedom of the press...to publish..or more than that... who decides

who is in the press, or not.
who decides.
who chooses the choosers?
.
so just anybody can claim they are 'press',
so they don't have to reveal info, that the
mere non-press would otherwise be forced to disclose?
who chooses this?
some flim-flam school?
how did this school get accredited?
who chose the accreditors?