Subpoenas (Contd.)

The protracted dispute between journalists and Government officials over the protection of confidential sources and unpublished material has yielded few victories for the newsmen. Last week, however, the press won a key battle in Washington, D.C.'s Federal District Court. The case grew out of civil litigation between the Democratic National Committee and the Committee for the Re-Election of the President over the Watergate bugging incident. The Republican side got subpoenas covering ten reporters and executives of the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Washington Star-News and TIME. Rather than surrender confidential files, notebooks and tapes, the publications resisted (TIME, March 12). But Judge Charles Richey quashed the subpoenas on the grounds that they violated the newsmen's rights under the First Amendment. "This court cannot blind itself," he said, "to the possible chilling effect the enforcement of these subpoenas would have on the press and the public."

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