Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From Reporter Over Identity of Source

[geek tragedy]

49. So you would essentially ban all subpoenas

Anyone could say, I was doing this as part of a news story I was working on, presto no subpoena.

Criminal defendants could even quash all search warrants. "Hey, those machine guns were part of a story I was working on."


Corporate America would love that. So would every terrorist hate group . Get a website, bingo you're above the law.

That will NEVER happen. There will never be a general right of all persons to conceal evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Nor should there be.

The rule is that everyone must cooperate with criminal and civil investigations. That is a good rule. The question is what exceptions are possible.

The first amendment has never and will never provide an exception of 100% of the population. Because then it would be about anarchy, not free speech.

We have shield laws in most states, and they don't require registration but rather look at whether the person was actually engaged in journalism.

So, your choice really is to protect journalist and only journalists (as would be defined by statutes, not by a registration scheme) or protect no one. I opt for the former.