{
  "title": "Search in the United States, national level, outcome upheld by a court",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/search?country=US&level=national&outcome=upheld",
  "filters": {
    "country": "US",
    "level": "national",
    "outcome": "upheld"
  },
  "sort": "date",
  "count": 5,
  "page": 1,
  "pages": 1,
  "per_page": 50,
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
  "facets": {
    "country": [
      {
        "value": "US",
        "label": "United States",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 64,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      }
    ],
    "continent": [
      {
        "value": "north-america",
        "label": "North America"
      }
    ],
    "tactic": [
      {
        "value": "secrets_and_espionage_laws",
        "label": "Secrets and espionage laws",
        "count": 4
      },
      {
        "value": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
        "label": "Surveillance and subpoenas",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "shutdowns_and_blocking",
        "label": "Shutdowns and blocking",
        "count": 2
      }
    ],
    "stage": [
      {
        "value": "punish",
        "label": "Punish",
        "count": 3
      },
      {
        "value": "silence",
        "label": "Silence",
        "count": 2
      }
    ],
    "level": [
      {
        "value": "national",
        "label": "National",
        "count": 5
      }
    ],
    "outcome": [
      {
        "value": "upheld",
        "label": "Upheld by a court",
        "count": 5
      }
    ],
    "leader": [
      {
        "value": "barack-obama",
        "label": "Barack Obama"
      },
      {
        "value": "george-w-bush",
        "label": "George W. Bush"
      },
      {
        "value": "richard-nixon",
        "label": "Richard Nixon"
      },
      {
        "value": "woodrow-wilson",
        "label": "Woodrow Wilson"
      }
    ],
    "era": [
      {
        "value": "1910s",
        "label": "1910s",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "2010s",
        "label": "2010s",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2000s",
        "label": "2000s",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "1960s",
        "label": "1960s",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "year": [
      {
        "value": "1917",
        "label": "1917",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "1969",
        "label": "1969",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2005",
        "label": "2005",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2013",
        "label": "2013",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "has_case": [
      {
        "value": "0",
        "label": "without a court case",
        "count": 5
      }
    ]
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "slug": "2012-us-john-kiriakou-espionage-act-cia-torture-source",
      "title": "United States prosecutes former CIA officer John Kiriakou under the Espionage Act for identifying a covert colleague to a journalist",
      "occurred_on": "2013-01-25",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "US",
      "country_name": "United States",
      "continent": "north-america",
      "jurisdiction": "US",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "secrets_and_espionage_laws",
      "tactics": [
        "secrets_and_espionage_laws"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "barack-obama",
      "leader_name": "Barack Obama",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Public disclosure of the CIA's post-September 11 interrogation program, including its use of waterboarding.",
      "outcome": "upheld",
      "outcome_on": "2015-02-03",
      "outcome_note": "Kiriakou served his full 30-month sentence under the plea agreement and was released in February 2015; no CIA interrogation-program official faced comparable charges.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 64,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2010s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who in 2007 was the first CIA officer to publicly describe the agency's waterboarding of a detainee, pleaded guilty to identifying a covert colleague to a journalist and was sentenced under the Espionage Act to 30 months in prison.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2012-us-john-kiriakou-espionage-act-cia-torture-source"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2005-us-judith-miller-jailed-plame-source",
      "title": "New York Times reporter Judith Miller jailed for refusing to name a confidential source in the Valerie Plame affair",
      "occurred_on": "2005-07-06",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "US",
      "country_name": "United States",
      "continent": "north-america",
      "jurisdiction": "US",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
      "tactics": [
        "secrets_and_espionage_laws",
        "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "george-w-bush",
      "leader_name": "George W. Bush",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The Bush administration's case for the 2003 Iraq War and the public dispute over former ambassador Joseph Wilson's contrary account of Iraqi uranium claims.",
      "outcome": "upheld",
      "outcome_on": "2005-09-29",
      "outcome_note": "Courts upheld the contempt order and subpoena; Miller served 85 days before her source freed her to testify, and prosecutors later convicted Libby of perjury.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 64,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2000s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "A federal judge jailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller for contempt after she refused to tell a grand jury who told her the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame, part of a special counsel's investigation into the leak.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2005-us-judith-miller-jailed-plame-source"
    },
    {
      "slug": "1972-us-branzburg-v-hayes-reporters-privilege",
      "title": "United States Supreme Court rules reporters have no privilege to refuse grand jury subpoenas",
      "occurred_on": "1969-01-01",
      "occurred_on_precision": "year",
      "country": "US",
      "country_name": "United States",
      "continent": "north-america",
      "jurisdiction": "US",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
      "tactics": [
        "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "richard-nixon",
      "leader_name": "Richard Nixon",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Branzburg's articles on drug use and manufacturing drew the attention of Kentucky prosecutors, who wanted him to identify the people he had described witnessing commit the underlying offenses.",
      "outcome": "upheld",
      "outcome_on": "1972-06-29",
      "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court upheld the grand jury's power to compel Branzburg's testimony 5 to 4, finding no First Amendment reporter's privilege.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 64,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "1960s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Louisville Courier-Journal reporter Paul Branzburg was subpoenaed by a Kentucky grand jury, a body that investigates possible crimes, after he wrote about drug users he had observed. The Supreme Court ruled in 1972 that the First Amendment gives reporters no special right to withhold sources or information from a grand jury.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1972-us-branzburg-v-hayes-reporters-privilege"
    },
    {
      "slug": "1917-us-espionage-act-bars-the-masses-from-the-mail",
      "title": "United States postmaster bars the magazine The Masses from the mail under the Espionage Act",
      "occurred_on": "1917-07-01",
      "occurred_on_precision": "month",
      "country": "US",
      "country_name": "United States",
      "continent": "north-america",
      "jurisdiction": "US",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "secrets_and_espionage_laws",
      "tactics": [
        "secrets_and_espionage_laws",
        "shutdowns_and_blocking"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "woodrow-wilson",
      "leader_name": "Woodrow Wilson",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The United States had entered the First World War three months earlier and introduced a military draft. The Masses had run cartoons and articles opposing the war and conscription, which the Post Office treated as material likely to obstruct recruiting.",
      "outcome": "upheld",
      "outcome_on": "1917-11-01",
      "outcome_note": "The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed Judge Hand's order later in 1917, and the Post Office's mail ban on The Masses stood.",
      "stage": "silence",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 64,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "1910s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Weeks after the United States entered the First World War, the New York postmaster used the new Espionage Act, a law against interfering with military recruitment, to bar the socialist magazine The Masses from the mail. A judge's order protecting the magazine was reversed on appeal.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1917-us-espionage-act-bars-the-masses-from-the-mail"
    },
    {
      "slug": "1917-us-burleson-mail-ban-milwaukee-leader",
      "title": "United States Postmaster General Burleson strips the Milwaukee Leader of its mailing rate",
      "occurred_on": "1917-01-01",
      "occurred_on_precision": "year",
      "country": "US",
      "country_name": "United States",
      "continent": "north-america",
      "jurisdiction": "US",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "shutdowns_and_blocking",
      "tactics": [
        "secrets_and_espionage_laws",
        "shutdowns_and_blocking"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "woodrow-wilson",
      "leader_name": "Woodrow Wilson",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The Leader had published articles criticizing United States participation in the First World War and the draft, which the Post Office treated as violations of the Espionage Act's ban on obstructing military recruitment.",
      "outcome": "upheld",
      "outcome_on": "1921-03-07",
      "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court upheld the revocation of the Leader's mailing rate 7 to 2 in United States ex rel. Milwaukee Social Democratic Publishing Co. v. Burleson.",
      "stage": "silence",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 64,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "1910s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Postmaster General Albert Burleson used the wartime Espionage Act to strip the Milwaukee Leader, a socialist daily, of its low-cost second-class mailing rate, cutting off its main channel to readers. The Supreme Court upheld the revocation in 1921, over two dissents warning it amounted to press controls.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1917-us-burleson-mail-ban-milwaukee-leader"
    }
  ],
  "other_results": [],
  "downloads": {
    "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/search?country=US&level=national&outcome=upheld&format=csv",
    "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/search.json?country=US&level=national&outcome=upheld",
    "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/search.md?country=US&level=national&outcome=upheld"
  },
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  }
}