In BALCO Case Brief, 24 States Support Reporter Source Confidentiality

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Twenty four states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, plus six legal scholars and three dozen news organizations filed court briefs in support of two San Francisco Chronicle reporters facing jail for refusing to divulge who leaked transcripts of grand jury testimony in their investigation of steroids by Major League Baseball players. The states’ brief argued that state laws protecting reporters in most instances from revealing confidential sources could be rendered “meaningless” by a lesser federal standard. It said the court should require disclosure only when “the public interest in disclosure outweighs the public interest in confidentiality.” (12/12/06)