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Thursday, March 6, 2008

Finally, a vote on a media shield law?

By Rebecca Carr | Thursday, March 6, 2008, 04:39 PM

Looks like pressure is building from top senators of both parties for a vote on a media shield law.

Just in time for Sunshine Week?

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., urged their party leaders today to call a vote on a bill that would protect a journalist’s confidential sources in most cases.

The House passed a reporter shield bill by a veto-proof 398-21 vote last fall. But the Senate version has been stalled since October because of objections from the administration and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

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But pressure is now building for swift passage of the measure. Why? Former USA Today reporter Toni Locy (pictured) was found in contempt of court last month for refusing to comply with a court order from U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton to name government sources who supplied information about a former Army scientist’s possible role in the 2001 anthrax attacks. Locy could personally face fines up to $5,000 per day unless she reveals her sources.

Click here for Cox Newspapers’ story about Locy’s plight.

Leahy and Specter sent a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., requesting time for floor debate on the legislation.

“The bipartisan majority support in the House and in the Senate Judiciary Committee demonstrates that federal shield legislation deserves floor time and we urge you to promptly take up the Free Flow of Information Act of 2007,” wrote Leahy and Specter.

 The legislation is supported by a wide array of media organizations including the Newspaper Association of America, the Associated Press, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, The New York Times Company, The Washington Post, the New England Press Association, the Vermont Press Association, and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.

The main thrust of Kyl’s opposition (which mirrors the administration’s) is concern that the measure would hamper investigations into illegal leaks of classified information as well as efforts to thwart an impending terrorist attack. Another sticking point is whether bloggers should be included in the definition of a reporter.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey recently expressed his “grave concerns” with the House and Senate bills when he testified before the judiciary committees last month.

But meanwhile, Locy is facing financial ruin because Walton may force her to ante up out of her own bank account. Locy is now a professor a West Virginia University.

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Pelosi plans to file lawsuit to enforce WH subpoenas

By Rebecca Carr | Thursday, March 6, 2008, 04:03 PM

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., did not mince words today about her intention to force the Bush White House to cough up top confidantes in the congressional investigation into whether nine U.S. attorneys were improperly fired for cracking down on Republican lawmakers and failing to pursue Democrats just before the hotly contested 2006 election.

The House passed a contempt resolution last month against Joshua B. Bolton, White House chief of staff, and Harriet Miers, the former counsel to the president, for failing to respond to subpoenas issued by the House Judiciary Committee in the inquiry.

Pelosi referred the contempt citation to Jeffrey A. Taylor, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, but there is no sign that he intends to oppose his boss, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, by convening a grand jury on the matter. That leaves Pelosi no other option than taking the matter to the courts. “I do intend to authorize House General Counsel Irv Nathan to file a suit in federal court to seek enforcement of the subpoenas,” said Pelosi, speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill today.

In making her decision, Pelosi noted that 17 Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee recorded their dissenting views to the contempt citation that cleared the Judiciary panel last summer.

At the time, the Republican members said an alternative to issuing a contempt citation would be to bring enforcement action in federal court, Pelosi said.

“So there should be no dispute for this action. This is what we are doing,” Pelosi said. “By blocking the enforcement of the subpoenas, the attorney general overstepped his authority in the face of clear statute.”

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Let the sun shine on Congress

By Rebecca Carr | Thursday, March 6, 2008, 01:08 PM

Lawrence Lessig wants to curb the influence of money in American politics now that he has declined to run for Congress.

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The Stanford Law School professor plans to come to Washington on March 20 to deliver a lecture about a way to shine light on corrupt practices in Congress.

Lessing is expected to launch his “Change Congress” project during his speech and describe “his decision to focus his academic interests on the issue of the systemic corruption of American democracy,” according to the Sunlight Foundation which is sponsoring the lecture with the Omidyar Network.

Lessig, a leading intellectual property rights expert, was pressed by colleagues and friends to run for Congress when Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., died. But he decided against it.

The lecture is just one event held by open government groups that week to focus the public’s attention on the growing level of secrecy in the federal government.

The lecture will be at 1:30 p.m. at the National Press Club here in Washington.

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