Concerning the Opinion of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Concerning the Opinion of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
March 28, 2006
"There is no greater responsibility for a Member of Congress than to defend the Constitution, and I fully accept my duty to protect the First Amendment, which is what this case is all about. That's why 18 major U.S. media companies from across the country joined together and filed a brief in strong support of my position.
"The American people have a right to know when their government's leaders are plotting to deceive them, and that is exactly what was happening during a telephone call in 1996 involving Republican House leaders, including then Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Rep. John Boehner.
"Despite prior court decisions, including the U.S. Supreme Court, upholding my position, the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a split 2-1 decision today against my position, with a strong dissenting opinion by Judge Sentelle:
'I see no distinction, nor has Representative Boehner suggested one, between the constitutionality of regulating communication of the contents of the tape by McDermott or by The Washington Post or The New York Times or any other media resource. For that matter, every reader of the information in the newspapers also learned that it had been obtained by unlawful intercept. Under the rule proposed by Representative Boehner, no one in the United States could communicate on this topic of public interest because of the defect in the chain of title. I do not believe the First Amendment permits this interdiction of public information either at the stage of the newspaper-reading public, of the newspaper-publishing communicators, or at the stage of Representative McDermott's disclosure to the news media.'
"We respect the court, but respectfully disagree with two judges. We believe that Judge Sentelle's strong opinion in support of the First Amendment and my position rightly defends freedom of the press and free speech in America.
"Our legal counsel is studying the decision, and we will decide on a course of action in the days ahead."
http://www.house.gov/mcdermott/pr060328.shtml