Constitution Day 2012: Plugging National Security Leaks While Preserving Free Speech

September 14, 2012 —

WHAT

Constitution Day 2012: Plugging National Security Leaks While Preserving Free Speech

WHEN

Thursday, September 20, 2012, 9:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

WHERE

Georgetown University Law Center
Gewirz Student Center – 12th Floor
120 F Street, NW
Washington, D.C.  20001

MODERATOR

Laura K. Donohue, Professor, Georgetown University Law Center

PANELISTS

Lucy Dalglish, Dean, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland
Dana Priest, Investigative Reporter, The Washington Post; Co-author, Top Secret America 
Harvey Rishikof, Chair, Advisory Committee of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Law and National Security
Kenneth L. Wainstein, Partner, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

NOTE

The participants will define leakers and whistleblowers and explore when leaks endanger our national security versus preserve our constitutional integrity. They will discuss who can be prosecuted for disclosing information and whether there is a reporter’s privilege under the First Amendment when a journalist receives an illegal leak of national security secrets. They will also examine whether there should be limits to the government’s subpoena power over journalists and a court’s power to hold them in contempt for refusing to disclose sources.

Prior to the panel discussion, the Constitution Project will present its annual Constitutional Commentary Award to Dana Priest and William Arkin, the authors of Top Secret America.

This event is sponsored by the Georgetown Law Center on National Security and the Law, The Constitution Project and The Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier.

Media interested in attending should e-mail mediarelations@law.georgetown.edu.