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The Newsmen's Privilege Against Disclosure Of Confidential Sources And Information, Harold L. Nelson

Vanderbilt Law Review

When the barrage of subpoenas began in early 1969, statutes of some states recognized an evidentiary privilege of journalists not to reveal confidential sources. In April 1970, the possibility of an additional protective avenue opened when the United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted constitutional protection under the first amendment's freedom of the press clause. By March 1971, this decision had been upheld and extended; the highest courts of three states had ruled upon the claim to constitutional protection with widely divergent results; and at least three petitions had been filed for Supreme Court review of …