[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 39 (Wednesday, March 7, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E481-E482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE ``SCOOTER'' LIBBY CASE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MIKE PENCE

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 7, 2007

  Mr. PENCE. Madam Speaker, if there is anything we learned from the 
conviction of ``Scooter'' Libby yesterday, it's that the First 
Amendment and freedom of the press are still behind bars.
  The need for a federal media shield bill has never been more 
apparent.
  Yesterday Mr. Libby was convicted of lying to a grand jury and 
obstruction of justice. This is reprehensible. Mr. Libby will be held 
to a high standard and he should be.
  However, as the Washington Post editorial page points out this 
morning, Joe Wilson also lied about who sent him to Africa, what he 
found there, and about his wife being a covert CIA agent.
  The Washington Post today even calls Mr. Wilson a ``blowhard.''
  Ironically, while Mr. Wilson was lying to the press and creating a 
partisan furor, Mr. Libby was telling reporters the truth. Mr. Libby 
may have later lied to the grand jury and failed to own up to his 
sources in his testimony, but what he told the press was the truth. 
And, therein lies the real travesty that this case

[[Page E482]]

brings to light: that freedom of the press is still behind bars.
  This case presented us with the long spectacle of reporters being 
jailed and threatened with jail time for not revealing their 
confidential sources. As we saw with former New York Times reporter 
Judith Miller, without the same confidentiality protection that 
doctors, lawyers, clergy and so many others have, reporters are forced 
either to reveal their confidential sources or go to jail. In her case, 
Judy Miller honorably chose 85 days in jail.
  But many reporters and their sources will not want to have to make 
the same decision.
  Because there is no federal media shield law, the real losers are 
actually not reporters but the American public. Confidential sources 
and whistleblowers within the government who expose wrongdoing and 
injustice in order to hold the government accountable will keep the 
facts to themselves because the reporters to whom they speak cannot 
promise them confidentiality. The chilling effect is real, and the 
American public will suffer.
  That is the real tragedy of this case.
  It's time to repair the tear in the First Amendment. It's time to 
pass a federal media shield law. Repersentative Rick Boucher and I will 
be reintroducing the Free Flow of Information Act soon, and I urge this 
Congress to act on it expeditiously. Let us free the First Amendment by 
passing this important legislation.

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