{
  "title": "Search: secrets and espionage laws, head of government Ronald Reagan, outcome upheld by a court",
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      "slug": "1985-us-morison-espionage-act-conviction",
      "title": "United States: Espionage Act conviction of Samuel Loring Morison for leaking satellite photographs to Jane's Defence Weekly, 1985 to 1988",
      "occurred_on": "1985-01-01",
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      "issue_of_the_day": "The case tested whether the Espionage Act of 1917, written to penalize wartime aid to a foreign enemy, could also be used against someone who gave classified material to a widely read defense publication rather than to an opposing government.",
      "outcome": "upheld",
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      "era": "1980s",
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      "summary": "Naval intelligence analyst Samuel Loring Morison was convicted under the Espionage Act after he sent classified satellite photographs to a British defense publication in 1984. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld his conviction in 1988, rejecting his argument that giving the images to the press was protected by the First Amendment.",
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