“nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself,”
5th amendment,, can’t force anyone to testify against theirself. Can this journalist reasonably expect that the government might prosecute her? Easily.
and the answer to abuses of speech is more speech, not legal prior censorship of reporters by the goverment. A reminder that the Federalist papers and other writings of our founders were written under pseudonyms to protect themselves and for other reasons.
The problem here is that our government was hiding this amazing failure of the mental health system, a few months before the election, so they could better blame it on guns. ANd this reporter exposed their scam. Good for her.
However (playing devil’s advocate here) if they provide immunity from prosecution for her, she *must* testify.
I suppose it’s possible her part of it broke some law, given how many laws there are to break. But seems to me she’s not being asked to testify against herself. She’s being asked to testify against her source. Has she invoked the fifth amendment, or is it all about freedom of the press? Because if she’s already claimed it’s about her right to conceal a source, then self-incrimination is beside the point.
“the answer to abuses of speech is more speech, not legal prior censorship”
I can’t follow your argument here.