A blow for democracy

The Supreme Court dealt a blow for democracy when it refused to hear the case of two reporters who are likely on their way to jail for protecting sources. Judith Miller of the New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine are in hot water for not revealing sources to a grand jury investigating news leaks that identified Valerie Plame as a CIA agent. Never mind the fact that neither of these reporters broke the story -- Robert Novak did that and it's a mystery as to whether he gave up his sources or is somehow immune from investigation. Cooper only reported Plame's identity after Novak did; Miller didn't even publish the story.

As the New York Times put it, "The jailing of reporters for pursuing the truth rings particularly medieval in this information age."