THE NEW YORK TIMES CO. V. ALBERTO GONZALES

FindLaw ^ | 2-24-05 | ???

[OXENinFLA]

THE NEW YORK TIMES CO. V. ALBERTO GONZALES (February 24, 2005)

A federal judge grants declaratory relief sought by New York Times reporters Judith Miller and Philip Shenon to protect their confidential sources, by refusing to give the Justice Department access to the journalists' telephone records, "without any showing on the part of the government that the sought records are necessary, relevant, material and unavailable from other sources, has the potential to significantly affect the reporting of news based upon information provided by confidential sources." The court concluded that that the "balance requires maintaining the secrecy of the [reporters'] confidential sources."

[OXENinFLA]

Hummmmmm......

[OXENinFLA]

THE NEW YORK TIMES CO. V. ALBERTO GONZALES
(February 24, 2005)

A federal judge grants declaratory relief sought by New York Times reporters Judith Miller and Philip Shenon to protect their confidential sources, by refusing to give the Justice Department access to the journalists' telephone records, "without any showing on the part of the government that the sought records are necessary, relevant, material and unavailable from other sources, has the potential to significantly affect the reporting of news based upon information provided by confidential sources." The court concluded that that the "balance requires maintaining the secrecy of the [reporters'] confidential sources."


http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/nyt/nytdoj22405opn.pdf

Complaint For Declaratory And Injunctive Relief
http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/nyt/nytash92804cmp.html


Lawyers In The Case:

For The New York Times:

Floyd Abrams
http://pview.findlaw.com/view/1951448_1

Susan Buckley
http://pview.findlaw.com/view/1189133_1

Brian Markley
http://pview.findlaw.com/view/3276685_1

George H. Freeman
http://pview.findlaw.com/view/1360471_1


For The U.S. Attorney:

U.S. Attorney, N.D. Illinois
http://pview.findlaw.com/view/2167815_1

Daniel Gillogly
http://pview.findlaw.com/view/1112699_1

Debra Riggs Bonamici
http://pview.findlaw.com/view/1397266_1


The First Amendment
http://supreme.lp.! findlaw.com/constitution/amendment01/


Groups About Which New York Times Reporters Judith Miller And Philip Shenon Were Writing:

Global Relief Foundation
http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/grf/grfnyt021903opn.pdf

The Holy Land Relief Foundation
http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/us/terrorism/cases/civil.html#hlylndfnd

[OXENinFLA]

PING...

[OXENinFLA]

Groups About Which New York Times Reporters Judith Miller And Philip Shenon Were Writing:

Global Relief Foundation

The Holy Land Relief Foundation

---

These places are known to have terrorist ties.

What is the NYT doing? Hiding the identies of other terrorists?

[kcvl]

bttt

[OXENinFLA]

AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I think I see what the NYT did.

They (may have) tipped off these places..

Remember when the FBI was raiding all these places.

---

The government, through a grand jury proceeding, seeks to investigate, and perhaps to prosecute, an alleged breach of a government secret, namely, the timing of the seizure of assets and Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") searches of the offices of two Islamic charities in the fall of 2001.

[rhombus]

I still have a hard time believing these reporters are protecting ANYONE who is a Republican or who works at the White House.

[kcvl]

That wouldn't surprise me in the least!

[OXENinFLA]

Page 13

On December 3, 2001, consistent with The Times’ policy of seeking comment from the subjects of its articles, Miller telephoned HLF (Holy Land Foundation) and spoke with HLF representatives about the information that had been disclosed to her by one or more confidential sources. According to Miller, she sought comment from HLF at this time only "about the government’s intent to block HLF’s assets," and she did not intend to tip-off HLF about the impending FBI search of HLF’s offices. Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois ("Fitzgerald"), representing the government, has stated that on the night of December 3, 2001, Miller disclosed to HLF personnel that "government action was imminent" (Affirmation of Patrick J. Fitzgerald, dated Nov. 19, 2004, and that the HLF personnel were surprised by the information conveyed by Miller. According to Miller, "[t]hat government action was taken against [HLF] did not come as a surprise to even a casual observer."

Pardon me I need to go brush up on the definition of TREASON.....

[cyncooper]

Thanks! I was going to look up this opinion and try and slog through it.

Marking for later.

(Carter appointee judge)

[cyncooper]

What is the NYT doing? Hiding the identies of other terrorists?

I have to dash for a bit but just marked this thread so I can try and at least skim some of Sweet's opinion, but the case is at least in part that Fitzgerald has stated flatly to the NY Times that he knows for a fact that Philip Shenon received a government tip that Global Relief Foundation was going to be raided and he tipped them off and this resulted in the destruction of evidence.

BBL

[CyberAnt]

Why can't the phone companies provide those records ..??

[MikeA]

I hate to say it, but I'm on the New York Times' side in this fight. This special prosecutor is an out of control prosecutor keeping a highly questionable prosecution running just to keep himself employed. There was no law breaking in the Plame matter. The law about outing a CIA agent applies only to field agents on undercover ops. Plame was nothing more than a pencil pusher in Langley. Thus "outing her" was not illegal because she was not a field agent. And besides, her loud-mouthed lying husband Joe "Kerry" Wilson, revealed her position at CIA long before Bob Novak did by discussing how she was thwarted from promotion because of her husband. It's time to shut this out of control, Les Miserable-like prosecutor out of business.

[cyncooper]

This is a different case (but may be related as pertains to government leaks) than the Plame case.

This stems back to the immediate months following 9/11. The raid I mention up thread took place in Dec. 2001 and the phone records Fitzgerald seeks are from a start date of Oct. 2001.

[OXENinFLA]

This case has nothing to do w/ Plame.

[rhombus]

Right you are, thanks. Same characters.

[cyncooper]

Oh, I really need to go but your excerpts are so tantalizing.

Here is yesterday's thread about the ruling:

Federal Court Backs 'NYT' in Phone-Records Case

And in the thread I posted some links to some articles giving some background information.

Post #8

and

Post #9.

Also, I posted a link to yesterday's Newsday Article about the ruling.

Are you typing out the excerpts or is there some way you are moving the text to where you can cut and paste. OK, back soon.

[Wristpin]

MikeA,

Joe Wilson publishing editorial about a classified program was the real crime here, in fact there may have been a conspiracy at the CIA. The poor Dems really stepped into it this time.

[cyncooper]

This isn't about Plame and this investigation predates it.

[cyncooper]

Joe Wilson publishing editorial about a classified program was the real crime here, in fact there may have been a conspiracy at the CIA.

You got it.

[MikeA]

Then what is it about? This doesn't relate to the protection of sources in the Plame outing? I guess I'm missing something.

[OXENinFLA]

Read post #9

[advance_copy]

This is a single Dist. Court judge refusing to throw out the NYT lawsuit. Looks to me like NYT still has to win the lawsuit in court against Dept. of Justice to protect phone records. If the reporters lose, it would reveal the govt. source that leaked to NYT about the investigation of the terrorist charities. I'd think the overall lawsuit will go to at least a full circuit court panel if not the SCOTUS. And I think NYT loses in the end.

[cyncooper]

OK, I'm starting to read the Carter appointed Judge, Judge Sweet, and his ruling.

I had read in the articles yesterday that he had asserted as some kind of underpinnig to his rationale that "secrecy in government appears to be on the increase", but now I see for this interesting claim he is citing Bill Moyers!

Beam me up.

Back to reading...

[wildbill]

Wrong case. Read again.

[okie01]

This special prosecutor is an out of control prosecutor keeping a highly questionable prosecution running just to keep himself employed. There was no law breaking in the Plame matter. The law about outing a CIA agent applies only to field agents on undercover ops. Plame was nothing more than a pencil pusher in Langley. Thus "outing her" was not illegal because she was not a field agent.

What you say is true. It probably took Fitzgerald twenty seconds to arrive at that conclusion. But Bush empowered the prosecutor a.) in response to political pressure to "do something" and b.) because it provided a method of undertaking a more important investigation.

Once empaneled, a grand jury is free to follow threads where they lead them. And one of the threads they followed was, by design, the incessant leaks of national security sensitive information from the CIA and other government agencies to the press.

The left and the media demanded the Plame investigation. Now, it's being used against them. With justification, I might add.

[Peach]

I'm assuming you've seen this?

[cyncooper]

You betcha. :)

I've made a few posts. Thanks for thinking of me.

I read the first part of the judge's decision. Very interesting.

I'm thinking the reporters are mixing up (for legal reasons) the issue of the "charities" anticipating their assets might be blocked by the government due to their articles about same (see articles/ruling). Their saying they didn't "tip off" the charities as they wrote published articles saying these organizations were being eyed by the government.

But the case is about the reporters (and I regret to say it appears Miller did what Shenon did) is *tip off the charities that a raid on their offices was imminent* and indeed the government is saying the tips were given right on the eve of these raids.

So, what public good was this government leaker doing by telling NY Times reporters a raid was about to be conducted? The reporters claim they merely wanted comment from the charities on the asset freezing aspect, but it sounds like Fitzgerald is looking to see if there was more to it.

[cyncooper]

argh

Their saying = They're saying

[Lady Heron]

Then what is it about? This doesn't relate to the protection of sources in the Plame outing? I guess I'm missing something.

The President said that all the leaks should be investigated and brought to justice not just the Plame case. I guess he meant what he said.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Spell checker needs upgraded.... LOL!!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

What is the NYT doing? Hiding the identies of other terrorists?

Could be, I consider them to be a member of the :

***************************************************

Unholy Alliance
by David Horowitz
Regnery Publishing, Inc.; ISBN: 089526076X
Hardcover - 256 pages (September 2004)

In this tour de force on the most important issue of our time, David Horowitz, confronts the paradox of how so many Americans, including the leadership of the Democratic Party, could turn against the War on Terror. He finds an answer in a political Left that shares a view of America as the “Great Satan” with America’s radical Islamic enemies. This Left, which once made common cause with Communists, has now joined forces with radical Islam in attacking America’s defenses at home and its policies abroad. From their positions of influence in the university and media culture, leftists have defined America as the “root cause” of the attacks against it. In a remarkable exploration of the “Mind of the Left,” Horowitz traces the evolution of American radicalism from its Communist past to its “anti-war” present. He then shows how this Left was able to turn the Democratic Party presidential campaign around and reshape its views on the War on Terror.

Horowitz’s Unholy Alliance, writes John Haynes, the noted historian of American Communism, “is an insightful, brilliant examination of the mental world of the radical left. Horowitz shows how today’s radicals, unwilling to reflect on the internal flaws that destroyed Marxism-Leninism from within, have embraced an all-consuming nihilism in its place. This has led them to a hatred of American institutions and a solidarity with Islamic terrorists that makes the radical left more properly regarded as dangerous than loony.”

Unholy Alliance is an eye-opening book that should unsettle conventional assumptions and reveals why intellectuals and political leaders who applaud Michael Moore are no laughing matter. As Harvey Klehr, author of Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, writes, “The world Communist movement may be moribund, but its habits of mind and ideological fantasies have not disappeared. This is a fascinating and depressing account.”

Price: $19.01 - Click here to order:

[cyncooper]

I have been a typo nightmare today. I'm blaming hormones!

LOL

[Valin]

What is the NYT doing? Hiding the identies of other terrorists?

Oh they'd NEVER do anything like that. Riiiight!

[freepatriot32]

Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.

[Peach]

I had read something the other day that made it sound as if the reporters did indeed tip off a particular charity, but I wasn't clear if Miller was involved in the tip off scheme or not. I'll be terribly disappointed to find out she was directly involved and she should be held to account if that's the case.