appeal, jim
“By a vote of 5-4, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today sharply limited the free speech protections of the First Amendment in violation of binding Supreme Court precedent.” Thus begins Representative Jim McDermott’s statement yesterday after losing the appeal of his conviction for disclosing an illegally-taped phone call to the New York Times and the Washington Post, both of which published stories about the call (a 1996 cellphone call including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, taped by another party before being given to Rep. McDermott). The appeals court argued that because McDermott was on the House Ethics Committee at the time he leaked the phone call, the Committee’s rules override the constitution’s first amendment right to free speech.
This is certainly good news for secrecy buffs. If the first amendment right to free speech may be overridden by a House committee’s rules, what other rules may override this right? And what about other rights formerly guaranteed by the US Constitution? Can they be overruled too?