What are the major events that prompted Congress to consider a federal shield law now?
Gant: The origins of the current effort to procure passage of a shield law largely, but not entirely, date back to the events related to and arising from the disclosure of the fact that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA…. There were numerous journalists who were compelled to testify both before trial and after Scooter Libby’s trial, and as an outgrowth of all this, [former New York Times reporter] Judith Miller ended up going to jail for 85 days. Those were the events that were the primary impetus of this round of efforts, but there have been dozens of efforts to pass shield laws over roughly the past 80 to 100 years. Q. What was it about the most recent bills, both the House and Senate versions, that helped them make it further than past attempts? Gant: The fact that people have been going to jail. There have been other instances of journalists, including in recent years, going to jail, but I think that that has brought home the reality that this can happen. There was an assumption –
