Politics
WikiLeaks, American Lives, & the First Amendment
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In light of WikiLeaks’s announcement to release another set of classified military documents, lets try and put everything into perspective.
The only problem I see in WikiLeaks, and the most concerning thing about the entire operation, is that it may put U.S. troops in jeopardy. The safety of our troops in the Middle East should be our first priority, and I cannot support the releases if they put the lives of people at risk.
Of course, I have no idea about the information that is about to be leaked and if it can even threaten U.S. security, but when dealing with people’s lives, it is best to be overcautious. When WikiLeaks released its first major set of documents earlier this year, the Pentagon reviewed the information and determined that no troops were endangered by the release. This is a plus for WikiLeaks, but we still must remain wary at the very least. The regulation of information flow is in the hands of people we do not know fully and cannot trust completely.
If we look at the WikiLeaks operation in terms of its legality and what this country is built upon, it is well protected. In part, the First Amendment reads that “Congress shall make no law…abridging freedom of speech, or of the press.” The Constitution, and in it the Bill of Rights, has always been assumed to take precedence over indivdual laws, both federal and state.
If we hold this to be true, we must assume that the WikiLeaks releases are protected by the First Amendment. The Judicial system has long since upheld this right and extended it to shield those who publish classifed documents that others take. Most recently we see the Supreme Court case of Bartnicki v. Vopper, 2001, in which the Court ruled that the First Amendment protects the media when they broadcast cellular phone conversations illegally intercepted by someone else. The only difference between this case and the WikiLeaks releases is the medium in which information is transfered.
As Thomas Jefferson once said, ”Our liberty depends on freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.” Until better evidence presents itself, we must uphold this principle.
What do you think? Comments are always welcome.
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