Reporter's Privilege OK'd in Tripp Case

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- A reporter for the military's Stars and Stripes newspaper does not have to reveal the government sources who leaked information about Linda Tripp's application for a new job with the Defense Department, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said the writer, Sandra Jontz, can invoke the reporter's privilege to shield her from revealing confidential information in court, despite the fact that the newspaper is owned and controlled by the Defense Department.

Tripp, whose secret tapes of conversations with Monica Lewinsky helped lead to President Clinton's impeachment trial, sued the Pentagon in January 2001, alleging officials there illegally leaked to Stars and Stripes that she was interviewing for a job at the George Marshall Center in Germany.

snip>

Tripp claimed she was humiliated by publication of the fact that she was looking for a job below her grade level and alleged that the Defense Department violated her privacy by releasing the information to Jontz. Tripp did not get the job.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-tripp-lawsuit,0,4870900.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[UpInArms]

1. gosh, has she

been accelerated past kindergarten and the sandbox?

[Mikimouse]

2. Couldn't happen to a nicer goon!

n/t

[mbperrin]

3. No kidding!

and I really mean it!

[JitterbugPerfume]

4. for LINDA TRIPP to complain

about humiliation is hilarious

[Robb]

5. Good lord.

I mean didn't we agree, you know, as a nation that we would collectively do whatever we could to keep her out of the news cycle, so we would never have to look upon her face again?

[lightbulb]

10. Maybe she should call Monica

for advice on how to best deal with it. The call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance, however. What a horrible woman.

[ScrewyRabbit]

6. She was probably applying her face for the position of WMD

...But the Defense Dept. already has enough of those.

[Ohio Dem]

7. This is the precedent they need to keep Novak from disclosing

his sources in the White House that told him Wilson's wife was a spy. Note the timing of the judgement.

I don't like this one bit.

[Justice]

8. Precedent

I'd have to read the case, but I would say that if there is some sort of balancing test involved, Novak's circumstances are different. Disclosing the identity of a CIA operative vs. dislosing you applied for a job. Possible Death vs. embarrassment.

[Ohio Dem]

9. You're probably right.

I hope so. I just don't like the timing of the ruling.

[diplomats]

11. It is strange that we had two Monica-related rulings today

this and the appeals court not giving Vernon Jordan reimbursement. The timing IS odd indeed.

[Rose Siding]

14. Both these stories have been ongoing

-I'd guess, but it's worth noting that they both made the nat'l wires today.

[MasonJar]

12. Tripp

Nothing that is devious and obnoxious is left to chance by this cabal.

[Chovexani]

13. Boo hoo!

Linda motherfucking Tripp has the GALL to whine about people revealing things about her without her knowledge?!

Cry me a fucking river! :nopity: