The War On News

A record of government actions against journalism and fact-based reporting, from the first press laws to today

Claim

Claim 776

Judge Russell explained that different sections of the Espionage Act covered disclosure to foreign governments and disclosure to others, including the press.

Published 2026-09-26. Last reviewed 2026-09-26. 1 source.

Statement
Judge Russell explained that different sections of the Espionage Act covered disclosure to foreign governments and disclosure to others, including the press.
Field
stated_justification
Value
Fourth Circuit's reasoning on the Espionage Act
About
incident 1985-us-morison-espionage-act-conviction
Source
United States v. Morison (4th Cir.) (1988)
Publisher
The First Amendment Encyclopedia, Middle Tennessee State University
Method
outlet report
Checked
2026-09-26
Confidence
medium
Status
current
Source date
2009

Quotation from the source

Writing for the court, Judge Donald Stewart Russell noted that section (d) of the Espionage Act dealt with the transmission of information to foreign governments while section (e) dealt with the transmission of this information to others, such as the press.