Search in North America, outcome upheld by a court
The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.
All filters: country, dates, head of government, sort
United States prosecutes former CIA officer John Kiriakou under the Espionage Act for identifying a covert colleague to a journalist
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 A…
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Punish · Head of government Barack Obama · Upheld by a court
New York Times reporter Judith Miller jailed for refusing to name a confidential source in the Valerie Plame affair
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.
Surveillance and subpoenas · Stage Punish · Head of government George W. Bush · Upheld by a court
United States Supreme Court rules reporters have no privilege to refuse grand jury subpoenas
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…
Surveillance and subpoenas · Stage Punish · Head of government Richard Nixon · Upheld by a court
United States postmaster bars the magazine The Masses from the mail under the Espionage Act
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 pro…
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Silence · Head of government Woodrow Wilson · Upheld by a court
United States Postmaster General Burleson strips the Milwaukee Leader of its mailing rate
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…
Shutdowns and blocking · Stage Silence · Head of government Woodrow Wilson · Upheld by a court