The Plame Affair

Background:

In February of 2002, retired diplomat Joseph Wilson went to Nigeria to investigate claims that Saddam Hussein tried to purchase uranium yellowcake to make nuclear weapons. He determined that Hussein had not. During the buildup to the second Iraqi war last year, the Bush administration argued that Hussein had attempted to buy uranium as part of a nuclear weapons program — a key rationale for the invasion of Iraq. In a famous "sixteen words" in his 2003 State of the Union address, Bush cited this as evidence of Hussein's "weapons of mass destruction."

When Wilson's report surfaced, some Democrats argued that Bush had ignored his own intelligence on the uranium issue. The administration rebutted that Wilson, a Clinton appointee, had done flawed work in his original mission. Conservative columnist Robert Novak defended Bush in a July 14, 2003, column which said Wilson's report was unimportant, and incidentally implied he may have gotten the assignment because his wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA operative.

Though he meant to help Bush, Novak actually caused more trouble for the president. As a result of his story, a CIA agent was unmasked, harming her ability to do future undercover work and incidentally violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. Democrats pressured Bush to investigate who in his administration had leaked this information to Novak, and he appointed a special prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald.

After interviewing members of the administration, Fitzgerald subpoenaed reporters for Time, NBC News, the Washington Post and the New York Times to force them to reveal what government officials had told them "off the record." When Judith Miller of the Times refused to speak, a judge threatened her with up to 18 months in jail.

The Issue:

Should reporters have the right to refuse to reveal anonymous sources to a prosecutor or grand jury?

The Case Law:

In Branzburg v. Hayes, the Supreme Court held that compelling reporters to appear before a grand jury does not infringe upon the First Amendment, so long as the prosecutor is conducting a good faith investigation and not simply harassing a reporter. However, most prosecutors and lower courts have extended just such a privilege to reporters as a way of giving them "breathing room" to report on contentious issues.

Coverage:

God Bless Judith Miller (Slate, Oct. 8, 2004)

Nixon Lives! (Slate, Sept. 17, 2004)

Free Matt Cooper! (Slate, Aug. 10, 2004)

Stop the Investigation! (Slate, Oct. 3, 2003)

Streaming Media (Slate, Oct. 2, 2003)

The Plame Game (Slate, Sept. 29, 2003)

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