Re: Bernstein hearing: The Press Release

[Brian Davis <bdavis@thepoint.net>]

On Sun, 22 Sep 1996, Mark M. wrote:

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> On Sun, 22 Sep 1996, Bill Stewart wrote:
> 
> > The First Amendment does not contain the phrase "national security"
> > anywhere in it.  It does, however, begin with a rather explicit
> > "Congress shall make no law" which it applies to a bunch of things.
> > However, the body of the Constitution does say there should be a
> > Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court has (fairly reasonably) given itself
> > the job of deciding what's Constitutional and what's not.
> > The Supremes have, over the years, made a bunch of generally outrageous
> > decisions about what kinds of speech are protected by the First Amendment
> > and what kinds aren't, though their opinions have been gradually
> > improving since some of the really appalling ones earlier in the century.
> 
> I did a little searching and couldn't find anything about a national security
> exception in the Consitution.  It's already a stretch to claim that disclosure
> of information vital to "nation security" is treason.  The Espionage Act, which
> is so obviously unconstitutional, seems to make "harmful" speech illegal.


There isn't such a clause.  The allowed restrictions were developed in 
case law.

Constitutional literalists take note:  the First Amendment says nothing 
about what the executive branch or the states can do ....

EBD

> 
> Mark
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