Three high profile free speech and press freedom organizations have filed an amicus in support of WikiLeaks’ motion to dismiss the Democratic National Committee’s lawsuit against them.
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press and the American Civil Liberties Union joined together to file documents with the court that support WikiLeaks’ right to publish.
The DNC has argued that they believe the emails published by WikiLeaks during the 2016 election season came from Russian hackers — and therefore that somehow negates the First Amendment protection offered to publishers. However, the press freedom groups counter that “an act of publication that would otherwise be protected by the First Amendment does not lose that protection simply because a source acquired the published information unlawfully, or because the publishing party communicated with the source about the receipt or publication of that information.”
Lawyers for the Trump campaign, which is also named in the lawsuit, have made the same argument.
Citing the same case as Trump’s lawyers, Bartnicki v. Vopper, the press freedom groups explained that the Supreme Court has determined that publishers enjoy “broad protection for the publication of truthful information of public concern, and it has extended that protection to the publication of information that was acquired unlawfully in the first instance, so long as the publishing party was ‘not involved in the initial illegality.’”
The DNC has not alleged that WikiLeaks was involved in the theft. This means that the publications were in fact legal and protected under our First Amendment.
FULL DOC: Press freedom groups including @KnightColumbia @ACLU & @RCFP file amicus in support of @WikiLeaks motion to dismiss @DNC case over WikiLeaks' publications on the DNC https://t.co/VbZtyt1Q86 pic.twitter.com/jttnovpcuC
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) March 13, 2019
“The press has relied on this protection to report on major stories — ranging from the Pentagon Papers to the Panama Papers — that inform the public and hold the powerful to account,” the groups said in their filing. “A ruling that narrowed this protection could jeopardize the well-established legal framework that has made much more important investigative and national-security journalism possible.”
The groups argue that if this lawsuit against WikiLeaks is allowed to proceed, it will have significant — and chilling — effects on the free press.
“The legal question addressed here is one with significant implications for the free press: does an act of publication that would otherwise be protected by the First Amendment lose that protection simply because a source acquired the published information unlawfully? The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that it does not, in recognition of the First Amendment’s role in ensuring the public has access to the information it needs to hold those who seek and wield power to account. The press routinely relies on this First Amendment protection in performing its democratic function to inform the public on matters of public concern,” the filing concluded.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize by 1976 Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire.
https://t.co/eTf6bNdj2J pic.twitter.com/riI8ESudHa
— Defend Assange Campaign (@DefendAssange) February 18, 2019
“Julian Assange meets all criteria for the Nobel peace prize. Through his release of hidden information to the public we are no longer naïve to the atrocities of war, we are no longer oblivious to the connections between big business, the acquisition of resources, and the spoils of war. As his human rights and freedom are in jeopardy the Nobel peace prize would afford Julian much greater protection from government forces,” Maguire wrote of her decision to nominate Assange.
