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GUEST COMMENTARY - The Trump administration’s relentless assault on basic freedoms has become a hallmark of the second term. Their contempt for the Bill of Rights appears to have no limit and their ceaseless commitment to translating that contempt into policy – executive orders, administrative threats, overt violations of law – is now a permanent fixture.
Even a cursory review reveals an astonishing array of transgressions. Hundreds of immigrants have been sent packing without any semblance of due process. Journalists are routinely denied access to the most basic venues, most notably White House press conferences. Trump himself has abridged free speech within his own circle, permitting (in his own words), “No dissent.” Most recently, the administration arrested a sitting judge in her courtroom; in the process they violated the sanctity of the bench and, for good measure, released a photo of the judge under arrest, further trampling her right to a fair and impartial hearing.
And now we find yet another egregious breach: The Justice Department has unilaterally erased rules which protect journalists and their source seeking to expose corruption, illegality, and plain old incompetence. It should come as no surprise that Attorney General Pam Biondi expressed her support for our free press even as she shut down one of the media’s most vital tools. It is standard operating procedure to assert that voiding basic freedoms is never their goal: misdirection and denial are as rampant as lies in the Trump.2 universe.
The fact is, those inside government machinery with a conscience are as important to electoral politics as votes, except in Ms. Biondi’s world. There, she asserts, the “leaking” of documents, is “illegal and wrong and it must stop.” Exposing legitimately classified documents may (and should be) illegal in extremely limited instances, but more often than not, exposure is in fact a public service which is not “wrong.”
Consider the catalog of important public policy debates which have arisen because reporters working with unidentified or anonymous sources launched controversies vital to public accountability.
Without sources, we would never have seen the Pentagon Papers, a key element in the debate over the Viet Nam war. We would not have learned that the Reagan administration played fast and loose with ethical conduct and the law through a sophisticated bookkeeping scam in which arms and funds were secretly delivered to Nicaraguan rebels (the Iran Contra debacle). And, of course, without “Deep Throat” a President and key members of his inner circle would never have been exposed, impeached, or convicted.
“Leaking” is a contentious pejorative which ought to be abandoned in favor of “truth-telling.” It is an essential tool of democracy.
There is one – and only one – overriding reason to quash the exposure of valuable information. Those who seek to prevent public awareness of wrongdoing understand that exposure will shine a bright light on their corrupt schemes. For example, “leaks” and determined journalists have recently led us to learn that:
An infant child with a serious medical condition has just been deported.
The government is instituting regulations which will cause hundreds if not thousands of citizens to suffer from illnesses which vaccinations can prevent.
One of our most senior cabinet members has disclosed critical information about a pending military action, putting our troops at significant risk.
Ms. Biondi can rant and rave to her heart’s content, but the facts do not and will never support her attempt to control democratic debate. And there is little doubt that, whatever she might hope, good, honest civil servants will always turn to journalists when they know something is desperately wrong.
We can only hope for the leak which drains all the air out of Ms. Biondi’s absurdly unconstitutional trial balloon.
(David M. Hamlin is a writer who often explores civil liberties issues in mysteries, Op-eds and satire. His Emily Winter mysteries and his latest, Murder in Tolland, are available at most digital bookstores.)
