We are in a very interesting situation. We have: New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971), was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the First Amendment. The ruling made it possible for The New York Times and The Washington Post newspapers to publish the then-classified Pentagon Papers without risk of government censorship or punishment.
President Richard Nixon had claimed executive authority to force the Times to suspend publication of classified information in its possession. The question before the court was whether the constitutional freedom of the press, guaranteed by the First Amendment, was subordinate to a claimed need of the executive branch of government to maintain the secrecy of information. The Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment did protect the right of The New York Times to print the materials.
Now, we have the Assange/Wikileaks situation. The government claims that Wikileaks assisted Manning in the theft. Should that make a difference? Does that make it spying? Should it? What is the difference between gathering news and spying?
Is this an attack on the free press?
Is this a legitimate attack on the free press?
Is this an attack on spies?
Remember, Manning was let go.
I have marked this as a tpf thread to keep the trolls away -- you know who you are.
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