Comments on: Robert Novak Announces Retirement

By: cboldt

cboldt — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:53:16 +0000

– the journalist “privilege” is a figment of the industry’s imagination –
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Not totally. There is a significant body of case law, as well as DOJ policy that aims to avoid compelled disclosure as a matter of routine.
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I found it interesting that the privilege adheres to the journalist and not the source – I’d thought the privilege one that the source could waive, but case law says otherwise.
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YMMV, or course.

By: Xrlq

Xrlq — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:22:52 +0000

FWIW, the privilege belongs to the reporter, not to the source.

Real privileges don’t work that way, but then again, the journalist “privilege” is a figment of the industry’s imagination, so if they’re going to persist in flouting the law to invoke a “privilege” that doesn’t exist, I guess there’s no reason they can’t define their fantasy privilege any way they want to. But make no mistake about it, we are talking about a phony privilege, not a real one. If there were a genuine, recognized privilege at work here, Miller would never have been jailed for invoking it.

By: cboldt

cboldt — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:52:21 +0000

Legal Watch: Courts reject protection for phone records – August 25, 2006
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Separate legal compulsion process used by Fitz, against Miller, to obtain records in the Holy Land leak investigation.
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IIRC, in the case below, the District Judge rejected the prosecution’s argument, and the Second Circuit reversed. Also IIRC, there was a very tight time-frame (days, maybe one week) between obtaining finality in the order, and a need to indict within the statute of limitations. No indictment was brought – the telephone logs were turned over.
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My general point being that the Holy Land Leak investigation and Libby cases proceeded very independently, even though they had the players “Fitzgerald” and “Miller” in common. At the time Fitz was trying to corral Miller in the Libby case, SHE had a court order protecting her from disclosing Holy Land Leak materials (I don’t recall if the appeal had been filed, but it hadn’t been decided).

By: htom

htom — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:52:14 +0000

My prayers and best wishes to Mr. Novak, too.

By: cboldt

cboldt — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:43:33 +0000

– Libby released her from any confidentiality agreement –
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FWIW, the privilege belongs to the reporter, not to the source. That struck me as odd when I first learned it (studying the Libby case of all things), but even if a source says “go ahead and talk,” the reporter may still protect the privilege. That, even if the reporter believes the source voluntarily agreed, although the more intuitive approach is that sources might be compelled to grant a waiver — in Libby’s case, the granting of a waiver was a condition of ongoing employment. He didn’t sign it until pressed by the SP. IOW, there were signs that he, unlike other WH workers, was reluctant to sign a waiver.

By: cboldt

cboldt — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:39:59 +0000

– Once Fitzgerald had her under oath in front of the GJ, he could have asked her about the other investigation.>/i> –
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I disagree. His charter as SP was narrow, and his beef with Miller in the Holy Land leak was not any of the SP’s GJury’s business.
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His subpoena to Miller in the Libby case was narrowed sufficiently to satisfy her that what I described above was indeed the case, and she did testify. Her “jailing” was I think more a matter of fighting for press privilege in general.
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Sad to hear about Robert Novak. He’s an interesting character.

By: Dana R Pico

Dana R Pico — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:13:21 +0000

Mr Jacobs wrote:

Friends? You have a strange set of definitions for “friend”, buddy…

I have no interest in stooping to the level of some of our . . . adversaries . . . on the left. I do have a dripping sarcasm gif that can be seen -- and downloaded -- about half way down this article, but I can't insert it in a comment on Patterico.

By: Scott Jacobs

Scott Jacobs — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:40:51 +0000

My very best wishes to Mr. Novak…

By: Another Drew

Another Drew — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:37:55 +0000

WLS…
Let’s also not gloss over the connection of Libby to the Marc Rich affair.
Libby, as a private atty was handling Rich’s appeal, and Fitz was one of the AUSA’s in NY trying to get Rich.
Too many personal affronts involved to be an above-board investigation/prosecution.

By: DRJ

DRJ — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:35:54 +0000

My apologies. I corrected the post to say Robert Novak instead of Robert Evans.

And are you sure it’s Monday? I thought it was Tuesday …