The Ineffable Principles of Judy Miller

Ailes explains the events that led to First Amendment Martyr (if you think the purpose of “freedom of the press” is to help the federal government commit felonies to protect the ability of government officials to lie about wars, that is):

So it comes down to this. It was all a big misunderstanding. Judy thought that that nice Scooter didn’t want to take her to the dance, so she told her friend Floyd she wouldn’t go with him anyway, even if he asked. And Scooter thought Judy was swell, so he just couldn’t understand why Judy wouldn’t want go with him. And each was too proud to approach the other, so they exchanged long, soulful glances in the hall for over a year, until Judy’s other friend Billy approached Scooter’s pal, Joey, and asked why Scooter was such a jerk. “Scooter’s not the jerk — Judy’s the jerk, you big dope….”

And then they all went to the ice cream shoppe.

Except Floyd.

And felonies were committed and peoples’ lives were ruined and many, many thousands of people died in the war that Judy and Scooter supported.

Jane is also all over this.

I admit–I don’t get it. I support a federal shield law giving a qualified privilege allowing reporters to protect sources. But I can’t see any privilege applying to Miller unless it’s entirely non-rebuttable, and nor can I tell you the “principle” that allows her to testify now but not then.