BREITBART.COM – Attorney Gen.: Reporters Can Be Prosecuted: “But [Mr. Gonzales] added that the First Amendment right of a free press should not be absolute when it comes to national security. If the government’s probe into the NSA leak turns up criminal activity, prosecutors have an ‘obligation to enforce the law.’
‘It can’t be the case that that right trumps over the right that Americans would like to see, the ability of the federal government to go after criminal activity,’ Gonzales told ABC’s ‘This Week.’ ”
This is a very scary thing for the Attorney General of the United States of America to say…for any US government official, really. He is saying, very plainly, that national security trumps the Constitution. Now, I know he’s referring to a reporter’s “right” to keep sources confidential in a case where a CIA officer’s name was released to the public. But, the statement is very broad in it’s implications to 1st Amendment protections.
I think it’s important to understand that the Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America — does not, never has, and never will, enumerate the rights of the American people. Nor does it describe the ability of the Federal Government to limit the rights of the American people. The Bill of Rights enumerates the Federal government’s responsibilities and duties to protect the rights of the American people. Specifically, it says what the government cannot do to limit or violate those rights. Contrary to what Mr. Gonzales would like to believe, the 1st Amendment very clearly says that it trumps any law Congress can pass:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
That’s pretty darn clear to me. I don’t see anything there that says “unless there’s some vague national security concern” or “unless there’s a terrerizt somewhere in the world”.
Or “unless Alberto Gonzales thinks otherwise”.
Not even the Supreme Court can change that. Only a long and arduous amendment process can fix the constitution to suit Mr. Gonzales’s interpretation. Too bad, Al.
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