A trip down memory lane

Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) is one of the few Senators with enough moxie to stand up to the Obama administration's effort to gut a federal law protecting reporters who maintain the confidentiality of their sources.

Some 49 states have "shield laws" of some kind that in most cases protect reporters from being compelled by courts to reveal the identities of confidential sources. But there is no federal statute protecting the "reporters' privilege." The House passed such a bill by a wide 398-21 margin in 2007.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, both President Barack Obama and GOP candidate John McCain promised to support a federal shield law.

Obama stunned media groups this fall when he reversed field, broke his campaign promise, and opposed a strong shield law, insisting that faceless "security" bureaucrats inside the executive branch be the ones to decide when reporters' privilege was in the national interest — rather than courts, as he had promised during the campaign. Obama had gotten a lot of media coverage the first day of his administration, when he made a big display of his claims to support open government and a free press.