Could WikiLeaks and its organizer, the shadowy Australian Julian Assange, be prosecuted for publishing classified information? As a practical matter, the idea is a non-starter. Since Assange lives abroad, prosecutors would find it difficult to gain jurisdiction. And if he were charged in absentia—or if WikiLeaks were enjoined from further publication by a restraining order—how could any such ruling be enforced? In any event, the politics of such a move would be a disaster. Even though some liberals are discomfited by what WikiLeaks is doing, a prosecution would only serve to bolster Assange’s standing by turning him into a martyr, as he himself recognizes.
How about American newspapers that publish secrets, are they vulnerable to prosecution? Today’s Wall Street Journal quotes one expert:
