Today, as thousands of activists took to the streets of D.C. for a noble cause, the March for Life, another political gathering seemed to fly under the radar. A consortium of progressive organizations hosted the third annual Belmarsh Tribunal at the National Press Club, an event focused on advocating for the release and pardoning of Julian Assange, the founder of the “non-state hostile intelligence service,” WikiLeaks. After spending seven years holed up in the embassy of Ecuador in London, Assange has been serving time in a British prison since 2019 as he appeals his extradition to the United States.
Assange has long been a polarizing figure in American politics. At first, he was reviled by the Right for debilitating the United States’ efforts in the Global War on Terror. Then, many of his Democrat allies turned on him when WikiLeaks released internal Democratic Party documents that showed the national committee supported eventual nominee Hillary Clinton over her primary opponent, socialist Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, which hurt her credibility in the 2016 general election against Donald Trump. Now, an odd syncretic coalition of civil libertarians, MAGA New Rightists, and anti-American leftists all support Assange.
The nuanced nature of Assange’s case might explain the strange bedfellows backing him. On the one hand, Assange has wittingly acted as a tool of Moscow at times and endangered the lives of many people who served or aided the U.S. in its war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, so the government’s hacking charges against Assange are undoubtedly appropriate. However, the Justice Department’s case against him could also have severe consequences for the future of journalism.
The DOJ’s novel employment of the Espionage Act to prosecute Assange for publishing classified material leaked to him by a government source, Bradley Manning, could set a dangerous precedent and imperil the First Amendment protections that members of the press currently enjoy when they speak to anonymous sources inside the government.
Assange is an ignominious individual, and his association with sordid figures such as the antisemitic leftist former British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn does not make him any more sympathetic. Nevertheless, if journalists can be prosecuted for merely publishing classified information that they are in possession of, this could have a profoundly chilling effect on reporting on the inner machinations of the federal leviathan. This is why the DOJ’s case against him should concern everyone.
Freedom of the press is the linchpin of democratic self-governance. James Madison once referred to “that right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon, which has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right.” These words ring true now more than ever at this fraught political moment, with two presidents, one current and one former, under investigation for the unauthorized personal possession of classified documents and trust in government near an all-time low. Let’s hope the DOJ recognizes this reality and narrows its case against Assange.