"Edward Snowden broke the law by releasing classified information. This isn't under debate"

[JDPriestly]

184. But did the law create a political crime?

That is a question that each person must answer for himself or herself.

We viewed some of the laws of the Soviet Union and Germany under the NAZIs and even now view some of the laws of some countries as thinly veiled political repression. So each person has to ask himself whether the fact that you are being tried and perhaps sentenced for whistleblowing on a program that you believe is unjust or dangerous to the American people is a political crime or an actual crime. It depends on the point of view.

Not all violations of law should be prosecuted and punished. It depends on whether the law is just in the first place as well as the motives behind the violation of the law.

Think of the Zimmerman case. That was not a political crime, but Zimmerman had a good defense under the law to a very serious crime. The Stand Your Ground law introduced new considerations for the jury that members of the jury stated caused them to acquit.

Is our law against "stealing" and releasing classified information a) enforced arbitrarily or b) inherently unjust because it does not permit a defense for whistleblowing and allow a jury to acquit a defendant who sincerely believes he is speaking out about a crime or crimes committed by the government? These are legitimate questions that Americans need to be asking.

What if the information leaked were about some terrible threat to the environment that was being hidden by our government because the government itself was responsible for the threat?

What if the information leaked was about some terrible threat to the freedom of our press or our freedom of religion or any other of our rights guaranteed under the Bill of Rights.

And what if Snowden's leaks were actually intended to and resulted in better protection for our rights?

So laws can be enacted that create political crimes if they allow no mitigating circumstances to excuse the crime they create. And what do we do if someone like Snowden leaks evidence that the government is exceeding its authority, failing to respect our rights, surreptitiously establishing a police state?

This is more complex than the OP acknowledges.

When speaking from the conscience about a controversial issue or government wrongdoing or overstepping is prohibited by law, then the law is political. It is repressing speech based on the political content of the speech, and that violates the Constitution. The language of the law may hide the actual purpose of the law (to prohibit speech based on political content) by claiming that the repression of the speech is required for national security. But that does not change the fact that the real purpose of the law is to prohibit speech that is truthful but critical of the government. Our government is not supposed to be able to hide its mistakes, faults and power grabs behind laws that permit the prosecution of essentially political crimes.