Reply #22: Exactly, Sir

[The Magistrate]

It is a pretty common tactic. If someone were accused of stealing an automobile, its particulars would be in evidence at the trial. These people are accused of, in effect, stealing secret documents, but if the particulars of them are made public at trial, then the government is showing no real harm was done by disseminating the information they contain, since they are willing to do it themselves. The prosecutor's proposal is only to be expected, as is the defense's demand for openness. In my view, the judge did right, as the principal of open trial is the highest value of our legal process, and there is something inherently rotten to conviction on secret evidence.