Politics: Roll On
Salon.com has a long piece discussing the ramifications of the Supreme Court's decision in the Pentagon Papers case -- NY Times Co. v. U.S. -- for freedom of the press today. [The ACLU, in a cunning bit of co-marketing, is Salon's meta-mercial sponsor for day passes today.] The item does an excellent job of outlining the case and the decisions written by the justices in the landmark case. All nine justices put pen to paper in the case, providing a wealth of interpretations and points of view on the right to a free press in America today.
Salon Executive Editor Gary Kamiya wanders a bit, but his thesis is sound and the danger that stands before us in today's endless war on terror is well-noted. The closing three paragraphs give readers the most to think about:
Salon.com has a long piece discussing the ramifications of the Supreme Court's decision in the Pentagon Papers case -- NY Times Co. v. U.S. -- for freedom of the press today. [The ACLU, in a cunning bit of co-marketing, is Salon's meta-mercial sponsor for day passes today.] The item does an excellent job of outlining the case and the decisions written by the justices in the landmark case. All nine justices put pen to paper in the case, providing a wealth of interpretations and points of view on the right to a free press in America today.
Salon Executive Editor Gary Kamiya wanders a bit, but his thesis is sound and the danger that stands before us in today's endless war on terror is well-noted. The closing three paragraphs give readers the most to think about:
Justice Black's argument that the public has the right to all information, because only the marketplace of ideas assures the security of the nation -- a notion that ultimately goes back to John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty" -- may have resonated for the Founders, but it is increasingly out of step with our security-obsessed age. Today, when the president's spokesman tells us we should "all watch what we say," John Ashcroft is in charge of law enforcement and the PATRIOT Act in force, Black's statement that "the guarding of military and diplomatic secrets at the expense of informed representative government provides no real security for our Republic" sounds positively radical.
History shows that governmental claims that unfettered press freedom will harm national interests are unfounded. Transparency is a virtue the civilized world rightfully insists is a prerequisite for good governance. The United States has long been the world leader in free speech. Even now, during the endless "war on terrorism" -- especially during that war -- it must continue to practice what it preaches.
The moral of the Pentagon Papers case is that constant vigilance in defense of the First Amendment is necessary -- all the more so, as Chief Justice Hughes wrote many years ago, in time of war. The six justices who stood up to a sitting administration during wartime were the last line of defense against the unwarranted use of governmental power. There were powerful forces pulling at them: the siren songs of flag and war, the power of the presidency. But, though divided, they did not abandon their posts. And by so doing, they provided a signpost and a beacon for all Americans, who, in an age of fear, need to be reminded that presidents come and go, wars come and go, but the right of the press to publish, and the people to know, must not be allowed to perish.
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