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Former Justice Department Official Backs Lobbyists in Leak Case

(Washington Post) Walter Pincus - The former head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy helped write a memorandum of law calling for dismissal of Espionage Act charges against two pro-Israel lobbyists, arguing that, in receiving leaked classified information and relaying it to others, they were doing what reporters, think-tank experts, and congressional staffers "do perhaps hundreds of times every day." Viet D. Dinh, who helped draft the USA Patriot Act after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, has joined with lawyers defending Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), who last year became the first non-U.S. government employees to be indicted for allegedly violating provisions of the Espionage Act. "Never has a lobbyist, reporter, or any other non-government employee been charged...for receiving oral information the government alleges to be national defense material as part of that person's normal First Amendment protected activities," the defense memorandum states. The defense memorandum was filed under seal in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Jan. 19 and, according to Rosen's attorney, Abbe D. Lowell, was unsealed last Thursday. "Prosecuting the leakee for an oral presentation... presents a novel case because the listener has no evident indicia for knowing what relates to national defense," Dinh said. The memorandum notes that the statute contemplates the passing of physical evidence, such as documents with classification stamped not just on each page but also alongside each paragraph. Another reason for dismissing the case, according to the memorandum, is that "if the instant indictment and theory of prosecution are allowed to stand, lobbyists who seek information prior to its official publication date and reporters publishing what they learn can be charged with violating section 793" of the espionage statute. Lowell said that his client and Weissman "have been indicted as felons for doing far less than for what reporters have been awarded Pulitzer Prizes."
2006-02-17 00:00:00
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