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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... Latest Releases
Making News?
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| SEPTEMBER
18, 1998 6:13 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Institute for Public Accuracy Sam Husseini (202) 347-0020 |
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| The Hyde Controversy: A Chilling Effect? | ||||
| WASHINGTON
- September 18 - - In the aftermath of news stories about an old extramarital affair by
Rep. Henry Hyde, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, some are calling for an
inquiry into how the information became public. Top House Republicans called on the FBI to
look into the matter. But some legal analysts see ominous signs in the recent developments
-- a slippery slope for civil liberties as government officials try to insulate themselves
from political charges of hypocrisy. Among those available for comment are: KAREN JO KOONAN, kjkoonan@igc.org Karen Jo Koonan, the president of the National Lawyers Guild and a trial consultant with the National Jury Project, said: "If the FBI is utilized to investigate news reporting, it can only have a chilling effect on the willingness of the media to provide information about politicians and government officials to the public. If they open the door to using the FBI to look into these political maneuvers, then we're going down a slope leading to Big Brother." MICHAEL RATNER, mratner@igc.org Michael Ratner, an attorney and co-author of the book "Representing Witnesses Before Federal Grand Juries," commented on the uproar over reporting about Hyde's extramarital affair: "The prospect of the FBI looking at who revealed this is intimidating. It's bordering on a violation of the First Amendment, and certainly its spirit. Congress is not an impartial neutral jury in an impeachment; there is no judge ruling on the evidence they can look at. They [the Republicans] can't have it both ways -- they can't release all this prosecutorial information and then say you're not allowed to look at who we are. If they were a jury, they would not be searching through the prosecutor's evidence. If you look at the nature of impeachment, it is not the same as a criminal trial. They've been talking about the moral fiber of the president, and the background of the people judging him is relevant. That they do not have the moral fiber they laud, shows them up as doing a political hatchet job on Clinton." ### |
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