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SHOCKING SPEECH AND PRIVACY ASSAULT IN MARICOPA
COUNTY
by Clint Bolick
If you ever have visited the website of Phoenix New Times, your Internet
browsing habits may soon be in the hands of Maricopa County Attorney Andrew
Thomas. But not before one heck of a First Amendment fight.
Today's Arizona Republic reports that sheriff's deputies arrested New Times
owners Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, for the misdemeanor of revealing Grand Jury
proceedings.
If true, thank goodness they did. For the subpoena they made public demands
not only all New Times reporters' records relating to articles written about
Sheriff Joe Arpaio, but identification of the Internet addresses, pages visited,
and previous websites visited for everyone who has visited the New Times website
since 2004. In this instance, the rule requiring confidentiality of Grand Jury
proceedings was shielding from public view an outrageous abuse of government
power-for which Lacey and Larkin were willing to pay the consequences to bring
to light.
New Times is a generally liberal community newspaper with a penchant for
investigative journalism. The publication has long criticized Arpaio and
Thomas.
The subpoena reportedly is based on New Times' publication of Arpaio's home
address, which allegedly is a crime. Whatever crime Thomas believes New Times
or its principals or reporters have committed, the subpoena is breathtakingly
broad-and in the view of some First Amendment experts, unprecedented in its
scope.
When a publication is critical of elected officials-a crucial role for the
press in a free society-prosecutors should tread very carefully so as not to
chill vital First Amendment protections. It is difficult to conceive any wrong
that could justify such a sweeping inquiry, not only into the files of New Times
but into the Internet browsing habits of tens of thousands of innocent
readers.
Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin proclaimed in their article revealing the
contents of the subpoena, "We intend now to break the silence and resist." Apparently they have gone to jail for this courageous act of civil
disobedience.
Regardless of one's ordinary proclivities regarding the players involved,
there is only one place for friends of freedom to stand at this moment: shoulder
to shoulder with the New Times.
Clint Bolick is the Director of the Goldwater Institute's Scharf-Norton
Center for Constitutional Litigation
Clint is available for
comment. | 
