Occupying the Fourth Estate with Assange

Most Americans understand that democracy dies in darkness. We all know that a free and independent news press acts as an important check on the corruption of government power. Without the free flow of news and information, Americans can't make difficult decisions about US laws and policy. That is why our American forefathers enshrined Freedom of the Press in the 1st amendment.

Last month, U.S. Attorney General, Merrick Garland, clarified the legal distinction between journalism and espionage. Significantly, the DOJ expanded the definition of protected journalistic activity to include the dissemination of classified information from confidential sources. Having now gone on record stating that the United States cannot prosecute journalists for publishing classified materials for public knowledge, how can the Attorney General mount a case of espionage against Australian journalist, Julian Assange?

Wikileaks gathered legitimate information on US war crimes and handed it over to the global community. Its release of the Collateral Murder video showing American war helicopters firing on Reuters journalists trying to protect Iraqi children shocked the world. The US government has sought to prosecute Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, for violation of the US Espionage Act ever since.

But the Espionage Act is an antiquated law designed to prevent the prosecuted from defending themselves by muzzling them in a court of law. Eugene Debs, Daniel Ellsberg, Chelsea Manning, Daniel Hale, and other anti-war activists have all been pursued under the Espionage Act with varying results. Their cases illustrate how the Espionage Act has been used as little more than a tool of political repression.

To demonstrate this point, anti-war activist Daniel Ellsberg and Cryptome publisher John Young have recently requested to be added to Assange's case as co-defendants. While both have published classified materials from Wikileaks, neither has been pursued for prosecution by the US government. Hence, they have asked to be indicted alongside Assange in order to demonstrate how Wikileaks has been politically targeted by the US government.

As our country struggles to recover from the devastating domestic costs of the pandemic followed by yet another war abroad, we look to the Justice Department to mediate Democracy on behalf of the American people. The uneven application of the Espionage Act demonstrates conclusively its inherent unconstitutionality. For these reasons and many more, the Justice Department should drop the persecution of Julian Assange.