[kroll]

New York Times Co. v. United States absolutely guarantees this.

Absolutely, but I believe he would still win (if charged) if he was contacted by Manning in the first place (owing to the status of wikileaks as a whistleblowing site) and merely chose to publish them (legal precedent or not). He certainly committed a crime if he orchestrated the leak somehow, but its still not Espionage.

[OldDeckHand]

"He certainly committed a crime if he orchestrated the leak somehow, but its still not Espionage. "

You very well may be right. BUT, I was listening to NPR last week when they interviewed Floyd Abrams. As you may be aware, Abrams is perhaps the preeminent authority on 1A issues - an unfailing champion of the First Amendment. He opines that Assange may be screwing himself here, and very well may have exposed himself to prosecution under The Espionage Act of 1917.

I'll try to find the audio. NPR keeps pretty good archives. If I can find it, I'll post it.