Court to release (some of the) CIA leak case documents to justify subpoenas for Miller, Cooper

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/29/court-to-release-cia-leak-case-documents/

Court to release CIA leak case documents.

The AP reports: “A federal appeals court said Friday it would release some of the documents it reviewed when deciding to force journalists to testify in the CIA leak investigation. The ruling followed a request by The Associated Press and Dow Jones, which asked for the release of the sworn statements Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald gave to justify subpoenas for New York Times reporter Judith Miller and Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper in 2005.”

[Spazito]

1. Interesting!

The appeals court has not yet responded to the Libby appeal, I wonder if some of those documents will add further enlightenment for the public, re-enforcing the seriousness of the crimes of which Libby was convicted.

[babylonsister]

2. We can sure hope! Might give US a different angle! nt

[Spazito]

4. Exactly! I believe it was in the 81-page ruling that one of the

Judges expressed, in very strong terminology, his concerns regarding the seriousness of the alleged crimes being investigated at that time. I searched for his exact quote but was unable to find it, unfortunately but here is an article from that time, it was interesting to go back and read it given today's news:

Judges Order 2 Reporters to Testify on Leak


The unanimous opinion was an expected but still painful blow for the reporters, their news organizations, other media and advocates of free speech. The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled there is no First Amendment privilege that allows reporters to conceal information they gather from a criminal inquiry.

The 81-page ruling held out some hope for the media, with two judges suggesting that common law could shield journalists seeking to protect the identity of confidential sources in other situations.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25744-2005Feb15.html

[Spazito]

5. Here is the pdf link to the released documents

http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200502/04-3138a.pdf

Thanks to DemReadingDU and Talkleft for the link!

[DemReadingDU]

6. Thank you, here is a link to my thread!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1213077

[yodermon]

3. I want to see Fitz's "Voluminous Classified Filings", myself

Per Lawrence O'Donnell:

Tatel actually found that reason and experience “support recognition of a privilege for reporters’ confidential sources.” But Tatel still ordered Cooper and Miller to testify because he found that the privilege had to give way to “the gravity of the suspected crime.”

Judge Tatel’s opinion has eight blank pages in the middle of it where he discusses the secret information the prosecutor has supplied only to the judges to convince them that the testimony he is demanding is worth sending reporters to jail to get. The gravity of the suspected crime is presumably very well developed in those redacted pages. Later, Tatel refers to “{h}aving carefully scrutinized {the prosecutor’s} voluminous classified filings.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lawrence-odonnell/the-one-very-good-reason-_b_3769.html

Is that what this release will entail? I can only hope.