Reply #106: Court rules against reporters in CIA leak

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By JAMES VICINI
Reuters News Agency
Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - Page A14

WASHINGTON -- Two journalists must disclose conversations with their confidential sources to a grand jury investigating a leak that exposed the identity of a covert Central Intelligence Agency operative, a U.S. appeals court ruled yesterday.

The three-judge panel upheld a ruling that found The New York Times investigative reporter Judith Miller and Time magazine White House correspondent Matthew Cooper in contempt for refusing to testify. They each could be jailed for up to 18 months.

The panel ruled that the two journalists must comply with a subpoena from a grand jury investigating whether President George W. Bush's administration illegally leaked the CIA officer's name to the news media.

"There is no First Amendment privilege protecting the evidence sought," Judge David Sentelle wrote in the main opinion for the court.

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